RUSSEL  A.  COV^LES 

f     \  40  WALL  STREET 
fe.  ^^^  YORK,   N.  Y. 


THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 


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THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

IN 

CONNECTICUT 


A  Study  of  the  Origin  and  the  Development 

OF  THE  Brass  Industry  in  the 

Naugatuck  Valley 


WILLIAM  G.  LATHROP 

Shelton,  Conn. 

1909 


COPYBIGHT,  1909, 
BY 

William  G.  Lathkop. 


Press  of 

The  Price,  Lee  &  Adkins  Co. 

New  Haven,  Conn. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Introduction. i 

CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory. 
Localization  of  the  brass  industry  in  Connecticut  as  indicated 
by    census    returns.     Brass;     its    qualities    and    history. 
Ancient  and  modern  processes S 

CHAPTER  II. 
Early  Industrial  Conditions  in  Connecticut. 
Agriculture  and  its  limitation.  Emigration.  Trade  and  its 
difficulties.  Attempts  to  develop  mineral  resources :  lead, 
copper,  iron.  Other  early  industrial  ventures.  Household 
industry  and  its  development.  Tinware,  clocks,  pewter 
britannia  and  German  silver. 13 

CHAPTER  III. 
Beginning  of  the  Brass  Industry  in  Waterbury. 
Early  ventures  in  brass.  Cast  buttons.  First  rolling  of  brass. 
Beginning  of  competition.  Improved  machinery  and  pro- 
cesses. Rolling  for  market.  ^  Establishment  of  the  industry. 
Factory  system.  Other  ventures.  The  market  in  1820. 
Reasons  for  the  establishment  of  the  industry  in  Water- 
bury.  36 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Growth  and  Development. 
The  market  in  1832.  A  new  firm.  Manufacturing  the  product 
of  the  rolling  mills ;  butts,  kettles.  Extension  of  the  indus- 
try. Beginning  in  Wolcottville,  Derby  and  Ansonia.  Roll- 
ing copper.  Pins.  Photographic  plates.  New  plants. 
Reasons  for  the  localization  and  success  of  the  industry; 
enterprise  of  the  pioneers,  labor  conditions,  the  tariff.        .      49 


vi  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Market.  page 

Salesmen  and  agencies.     Sources  of  raw  material;  copper,  zinc. 

Roads  and  railroads ys 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Organization. 
Individual  initiative.     Capital  involved.     Partnerships  and  cor- 
porations.    Labor.      Machinery,   mechanics  and  processes 
imported.    Training   a   native    force.     Division    of    labor. 
Wages.     Profits 83 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Later  Developments. 
Review  of  growth  and  development.    The  telegraph  and  elec- 
tricity.    The   metallic   case   cartridge.     Coinage.    Foreign 
trade. 98 

CHAPTER  VIIL 
Competition  and  Combination. 
Notable  development  of  the  brass  industry  in  the  Naugatuck 
Valley.    Factors  which  influenced  the  development.     Out- 
side competition.    Roll  of  mills  in  1895.     Pools  and  agree- 
ments.  American  Brass  Company.   Review  and  conclusion,     no 

Bibliography 133 

Index I39 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE  attempt  to  write  the  story  of  the  beginnings  and 
the  development  of  American   industrial  undertak- 
ings is  attended  with  increasing  difficulty.     Some  of 
these  difficulties  may  be  specified. 

I.  Many  enterprises  now  of  notable  consequence  run 
back  to  humble  and  obscure  beginnings.  At  the  time  theSe 
attracted  no  attention  and  the  circumstances  are  entirely  lost 
to  record. 

II.  Two  generations  ago  books  were  loosely  kept  or  not 
at  all.  A  sense  of  perspective  was  rarely  encountered. 
Matters  of  little  consequence  were  carefully  noted,  while 
facts  of  permanent  value  failed  of  record.  Those  who  en- 
gaged in  industrial  undertakings  were  neither  historians  nor 
philosophers;  and  historians  were  occupied  with  aflfairs  of 
state. 

III.  A  change  in  public  opinion  regarding  some  phases  of 
corporate  activity  has  recently  appeared.  This  has  led  to 
the  wholesale  destruction  of  books  and  papers,  some  of 
which  are  of  inestimable  value  from  the  standpoint  of  in- 
dustrial history. 

IV.  The  records  of  government  investigations,  in  census 
and  other  inquiries,  are  not  of  final  value  and  authority. 
These  records  were  usually  formulated  and  compiled  by 
those  who  were  ignorant  of  the  industrial  processes  which 
the  inquiry  was  supposed  to  cover,  and  hence  are  full  of  in- 
accuracies and  have  been  made  the  basis  of  false  conclusions. 


2  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

V.  Those  whose  personal  activity  and  recollection  cover 
the  period  of  birth  and  development  have  largely  passed 
from  the  stage  of  action. 

These  difficulties  have  all  been  encountered  in  this  present 
inquiry. 

The  census  returns  and  the  results  of  other  inquiries  un- 
dertaken by  the  government  are  in  the  schedules  relating  to 
the  history  of  the  brass  industry  singularly  misleading.  For 
example;  the  printed  results  of  inquiries  made  regarding 
manufacturing  enterprises  as  ordered  by  Congress,  March 
30,  1822,  and  later  under  date  of  January  27,  1824,  contain 
no  reference  to  the  existence  of  the  manufacture  of  tinware 
in  the  State  of  Connecticut ;  although  it  is  probable  that  at 
the  time  the  value  of  tinware  made  within  the  State  and  sold 
outside  of  its  boundary  exceeded  the  value  of  any  other 
manufactured  product  exported  from  the  State.  And  in 
those  reports  only  passing  mention  is  made  of  the  clock  in- 
dustry which  in  the  value  of  its  exported  product  was  second 
to,  even  if  it  did  not  exceed,  that  of  tinware.  In  the  later 
returns,  the  attempt  to  enumerate  the  different  branches  of 
the  brass  industry  under  different  schedules,  such  as  brass 
and  copper  rolled,  brassware  and  brass  casting  and  finishing 
has  brought  about  a  most  unsatisfactory  result. 

Fifty  years  ago  practically  all  of  the  brass  mills  in  the 
State  both  rolled  brass  and  manufactured  brasswares.  This 
condition  persisted  until  1900,  and  still  obtains  in  several  im- 
portant instances.  To  include  the  entire  product  of  a  given 
mill  in  either  schedule  is  misleading.  For  example ;  in  1850, 
there  were  returned  for  Connecticut  22  brass  foundries 
with  an  annual  output  of  $1,250,481,  and  in  i860,  seven 
brass  foundries  with  an  output  of  $64,000.  In  i860,  no 
manufacture  of  brassware  is  returned  for  the  State,  and,  in 


INTRODUCTION  3 

1870,  only  one  establishment  for  the  rolling  of  brass.  After 
1880,  an  attempt  at  a  more  exact  classification  was  made 
with  results  which  are  hardly  more  satisfactory.  In  1880, 
the  returns  for  the  State  are  brass  and  copper  rolled,  $10,- 
985,471,  and  brassware,  $1,134,884:  in  1890,  the  figures  were 
brass  and  copper  rolled,  $6,393,998,  and  brassware,  $10,711,- 
945 :  and  in  1900,  the  returns  were  given  brass  and  copper 
rolled,  $29,787,282,  and  brassware,  $9,269,159.  It  is  im- 
possible to  take  these  figures  as  they  stand  and  reach  any 
valuable  result. 

This  inquiry  would  have  been  impossible  and  the  results 
reached  would  have  been  much  less  valuable,  if  the  writer 
had  not  commanded  some  unusual  facilities  for  investigation. 
There  are  only  two  sources  of  information  now  in  print  of 
considerable  value.     These  are,  first,  a  brief  article  by  Mr.' 
A.  A.  Cowles,  President  of  the  Ansonia  Brass  and  Copper^ 
Company,  on_^'Copp€r  and  Brass",  printed  in  1895,  in  Vol-  ^ 
ume  I  of  "One  Hundred  Years  of  Americaii  Commerce' 
edited  by  C.  M.  Depew;  and  second,  the  "History  of  the* 
Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  compiled  by  Rev  Joseph  An- 
derson, D.D.,  in  three  volumes,  printed  in  1895.     Without 
this  last  any  attempt  now  to-  construct  the  early  history  of 
the  industry  as  it  actually  developed  would  be  entirely  impos- 
sible.    Dr.  Anderson  had  able  collaborators,  was  a  thorough 
student,  had  a  good  historical  sense,  and  was  personally  ac- 
quainted with  many  of  those  who  had  made  the  industry 
what  it  is  to-day  and  whose  recollection  covered  the  entire 
period  of  its  development.     His  history  is  second  to  none  of 
its  kind. 

The  writer  wishes  to  acknowledge  his  indebtedness  to 
many  present  and  former  workmen  in  the  mills  who  have 
given  him  valuable  information;  particularly  to  Mr.  Fred- 


4  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

erick  J.  Kingsbury  of  Waterbury,  who  graciously  revised 
this  manuscript,  whose  contributions  to  Dr.  Anderson's 
history  contain  practically  all  of  consequence  in  those  vol- 
umes as  far  as  it  concerns  the  brass  industry,  and  who  stands 
alone  of  men  now  living  in  his  personal  acquaintance  with 
those  who  made  the  industry  what  it  is  and  with  the  condi- 
tions under  which  it  was  developed ;  and  also  to  Mr.  Charles 
F.  Brooker,  President  of  the  American  Brass  Company,  and 
who  is  clearly  the  leading  factor  in  the  industry  to-day,  who 
has  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  writer  papers  of  unique  and 
commanding  importance. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory. 

Localization  of  the  brass  industry  in  Connecticut  as  indicated  by 
the  census  returns.  Brass;  its  qualities  and  history.  Ancient 
and  modern  processes. 

THE  brass  industry  in  Connecticut  affords  a  notable  ex- 
ample of  concentration.*  In  1880,  76% ;  in  1890, 
70%  ;  in  1900,  71%  ;  and  in  1905,  73%  of  the  rolling 
of  brass  and  copper  and  the  manufacture  of  the  same  was 
returned  by  the  census  as  centered  in  the  State  of  Connecti- 
cut.f  This  concentration  has  been  accomplished  notwith- 
standing the  entire  absence  of  raw  materials  within  the 
State,  and  without  any  near  absorbing  market,  except  as 
such  has  appeared  in  the  course  of  the  development  of  the 
industry  itself. 

The  gross  product  of  the  brass  mills  is  now  more  than 
seventy  million  dollars  a  year.  There  was,  in  1900,  no 
example  of  specialization  involving  so  large  a  product  which 
was  as  notable.  It  is  true  that  in  that  year  54%  of  the 
manufacture  of  iron  and  steel  was  localized  in  the  State  of 

*See  a  suggestive  study  of  the  theory  of  concentration  as  illus- 
trated by  the  cotton  industry  in  England.  "Der  Grossbetrieb", 
G.  von  Schulze-Gavernitz,  Leipzig,  1892.  Confer  also  "Evolution 
of  Modern  Capitalism",  J.  A.  Hobson,  Chaps.  II-IV  and  "Philoso- 
phy of  Manufactures",  Andrew  Ure,  Chap.  III. 

fSee  census  reports  1880  to  1905.  See  Bibliography  for  titles. 
These  returns  as  given  are  misleading  and  unsatisfactory.  To  reach 
the  results  above,  the  iigures  in  the  schedules  brass  and  copper 
rolled  and  brassware  have  been  added  together.  Brass  casting 
bears  no  intimate  relation  to  brass  rolling  as  will  be  noted.  This 
schedule  has  been  disregarded.     See  critique  in  introduction. 


6  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

Pennsylvania  and  45%  of  the  manufacture  of  boots  and 
shoes  was  localized  in  Massachusetts,  but  the  later  returns 
indicate  that  in  both  of  these  lines  of  manufacture  the  per- 
centage of  concentration  is  decreasing  while  Connecticut  is 
retaining  her  hold  upon  the  brass  industry  in  increasing 
rather  than  in  diminishing  proportion. 

Within  the  State  itself  the  brass  industry  is  by  far  the  most 
important  branch  of  manufacture.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  textile  industry  was  the  most  impor- 
tant. It  is  claimed  that  the  second  cotton  mill  in  the  country 
was  erected  in  1794  at  Manchester;  being  preceded  only  by 
Slater's  mill  at  Pawtucket,  R.  I.*  In  1845,  when  the  first 
statistics  which  are  even  approximately  satisfactory  are 
available,  it  appears  that  the  manufacture  of  woolens  was  the 
most  important  single  branch  of  industry.f  At  that  time 
the  output  of  the  woolen  mills  alone  was  58%  larger  than 
the  output  of  the  copper  and  brass  mills;  and  the  gross 
product  of  the  brass  industry  with  its  allied  branches  of 
manufacture^  was  but  37%  of  the  gross  textile  product. 

*See  Gallatin's  report,  1810,  and  "History  of  Conn.",  T.  Dwight, 
Jr.,  pp.  413-414.  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  pp.  419- 
421.  "Gazetteer  of  States  of  Conn,  and  R.  I.",  Pease  and  Niles, 
Hartford,   1819,  pp.   16-17. 

t"Report  of  Sec.  of  State  relative  to  certain  branches  of  industry", 
1839,  (Conn.)  House  Rep.  Doc.  No.  26.  "Statistics  of  certain 
branches  of  industry  in  Conn.",  Oct.  i,  1845,  D.  P.  Tyler,  Sec.  of 
State,  and  later  U.  S.  census  returns. 

JThe  census  returns,  as  already  noted,  are  not  consistently  classi- 
fied. Only  approximate  conditions  can  be  derived.  The  "allied 
branches  of  manufacture"  appear  as  clocks,  hardware,  needles  and 
pins,  hooks  and  eyes,  ammunition  and  foundry  products.  The  rela- 
tion of  some  of  these  to  the  brass  industry  is  indicated  on  the  follow- 
ing pages.  In  Conn,  brass  machinery  is  an  important  item  in  foun- 
dry products  and  in  this  State  brass  enters  largely  into  the  manufac- 
ture of  hardware. 


INTRODUCTORY  7 

Tn  1850  the  textiles  combined  were  50%  more  important, 
measured  by  the  gross  value  of  product,  than  the  brass  in- 
dustry. For  the  next  three  decades  this  relative  develop- 
ment remained  constant.  Then  came  a  great  change.  The 
woolen  manufacture  declined  not  only  relatively,  but  abso- 
lutely; so  that  in  1900  the  output  was  actually  smaller  than 
in  1880.  In  1900  the  product  of  all  the  textile  mills  com- 
bined did  not  equal  that  of  1880.  On  the  other  hand  in  1890 
the  brass  manufacture  took  the  leading  place  in  the  list  of 
Connecticut  industries  and  with  its  allied  branches  of  manu- 
facture had  a  gross  product  which  was  25%  larger  than  that 
of  all  the  textiles.  In  1905  the  gross  product  of  the  rolling 
mills  alone  was  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  entire  textile  in- 
dustry, and  the  gross  product  of  the  brass  industry  with  its 
allied  branches  was  more  than  twice  that  of  the  textiles.  Of 
the  increase  in  the  value  of  the  annual  gross  product  of  all 
the  industries  of  the  State  from  19CX)  to  1905,  the  brass  in- 
dustry with  its  allied  branches  contributed  more  than  one- 
third,  and  the  total  product  in  1905  was  nearly  one-third 
of  the  value  of  the  entire  manufactured  product  of  the  State. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  study  the  beginning  and 
the  development  of  the  brass  industry  as  thus  centered  in  the 
State  of  Connecticut. 

Brass  is  the  most  valuable  alloy  known.  It  bears  some- 
what the  same  relation  to  copper,  though  for  different  rea- 
sons, that  steel  bears  to  iron.  Brass  is  harder  than  copper 
and  takes  a  high  polish.  It  possesses  a  high  degree  of  duc- 
tility and  of  malleability.  It  is  easily  fusible  and  not  a  good 
conductor  of  heat.  It  is  not  subject  to  marked  change  on 
exposure  to  the  atmosphere.  Since  its  cost  is  higher  than 
that  of  iron  or  steel,  it  is  not  adapted  for  heavy  castings,  nor 
for  construction  work.     It  can  not  be  tempered  nor  hard- 


8  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

ened  like  steel,  and  hence  is  not  adapted  for  bearings  in  gen- 
eral,* nor  for  cutting  tools.  But  for  an  endless  variety  of 
small  wares,  or  for  purposes  for  which  its  color  or  dura- 
bility makes  it  attractive,  it  is  the  most  available  and  widely 
useful  metal  now  known. 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  when  brass  was  first  used. 
The  origin  of  the  English  word  is  lost  to  record.f  An  in- 
vestigation is  made  particularly  difficult  because  both  the 
Greeks  and  the  Romans  used  the  same  word  for  copper, 
brass  and  bronze.J 

Copper  was  early  found  on  the  island  of  Cyprus  and  also 
in  Spain  and  in  Cornwall,  England. §  Tin  was  obtained 
from  Cornwall.  Both  of  these  metals  were  articles  of 
Phoenician  commerce.  1 1  On  the  other  hand  zinc  was  not 
known  to  the  ancients,  nor  was  it  an  article  of  trade  until 
about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.^  Tin  and  cop- 
per are  found  practically  pure  in  a  native  state.  Zinc  is 
not  so  encountered. 

Copper  was  softer  and  more  easily  worked  than  iron,  and 
when  hardened  with  tin  formed  the  weapons  and  tools  of 

*Alloys  of  which  copper  is  the  chief  constituent,  other  and  harder 
than  brass  proper,  may  be  used  for  bearings. 

fArticle  "Brass  Founding",  Walter  Graham,  "British  Mfg.  In- 
dustries", edited  by  G.  P.  Bevan,  London,  1876,  p.  126. 

JBrass  is  the  alloy  of  copper  and  zinc. 
Bronze  is  the  alloy  of  copper  and  tin. 

§Pliny,  "Naturae  Historiarum",  bk.  34,  Chap.  2.  "The  Industrial 
Arts",  W.  Maskell,  N.  Y.,  1876,  p.  37  and  fol. 

1 1  Both  copper  and  tin  were  articles  of  Phoenician  commerce 
before  500  B.  C.  See  F.  C.  Movers,  "Die  Phoenizer",  Vol.  II,  p.  66 
et  al.  O.  Meltzer,  "Geschichte  der  Karthage."  Rawlinson,  "His- 
tory of  Phoenicia." 

11"The  Metallic  Alloys",  W.  T.  Brannt,  London  and  Philadelphia, 
1889,  p.  56. 


INTRODUCTORY  9 

primitive  man.  It  is  probable  that  this  hardening  of  the 
pure  copper  with  tin  or  with  other  metals  is  the  so-called 
lost  art  of  tempering  copper.  Bronze  was  made  and  cast  in 
China  and  Japan  earlier  than  recorded  history.  Articles  of 
copper  and  of  its  alloys  have  been  found  in  Egyptian  tombs 
dating  from  before  2000  B.  C.  In  one  of  the  earlier  books 
of  the  Bible,  written  by  500  B.  C,  and  possibly  depending 
upon  an  earlier  source,  it  is  stated  that  vessels  of  brass  were 
cast  for  Solomon's  temple,  erected  just  after  1000  B.  C* 
The  composition  of  this  metal  is  of  course  unknown. 

The  Elder  Pliny  in  his  Natural  History  devotes  a  whole 
book  to  the  metals.  He  declares  that  brass  was  known  and 
used  shortly  after  the  founding  of  Rome.f  Numa  recog- 
nized the  workers  in  copper  and  its  alloys  as  a  trade  order. 
Pliny  distinguishes  between  cuprum,  orichalcum  and  aes,  but 
he  does  not  make  the  distinction  sufficiently  plain  that  we  can 
identify  them.  He  declares  that  several  alloys  of  copper 
were  in  use,  but  he  does  not  give  their  composition.  Proba- 
bly this  was  not  known  by  him.  That  the  most  widely  used 
alloy  was  bronze  appears  from  the  coins  and  ornaments 
which  have  survived.  That  which  is  the  most  frequently 
encountered  is  compQsed  of  from  80%  to  85%  copper  and  the 
rest  tin.$  But  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  in- 
creasing amounts  of  lead,  zinc,  and  antimony  appear,  proba- 
bly due  to  impurities  in  the  ore  from  which  the  metals  were 
obtained. 

About  900  A.  D.  the  art  of  casting  bronze  and  other  alloys 
of  copper  was  lost,  and  for  three  centuries  no  original  work 

*I  Kings  7:13-39.  The  Hebrew  word  apparently  applies  to  copper 
and  bronze,  never  brass. 

fPliny,  book  34,  Chap.  2-5. 

tSee  analysis  of  ancient  coins  from  500  to  70  B.  C,  in  Revised 
Harper's  Latin  Dictionary,  1879,  under  "aes." 


10  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

was  made.  After  1200  true  brass  appears,  the  composition 
of  which  was  now  deliberately  undertaken.  Copper  fuses 
readily  with  tin,  zinc,  lead,  antimony  and  other  metals  in 
widely  varying  proportions,  and  it  does  not  appear  that  be- 
fore this  time  the  effort  was  made  to  secure  a  definite  result 
by  carefully  selecting  the  proportions  of  the  metals  to  be 
fused. 

During  the  middle  ages  brass  was  formed  by  fusing  gran- 
ulated copper  with  calamine,  the  constitution  of  which  was 
not  then  known.  Calamine  is  a  zinc  silicate,  a  natural  ore, 
found  in  some  cases  close  to  copper  ore.  When  it  is  heated 
with  copper  globules  of  brass  appear.  The  process  is 
improved  by  adding  charcoal  and  by  granulating  the  cop- 
per. To  this  end  molten  copper  is  poured  into  water.  Be- 
cause both  calamine  and  natural  copper  vary  somewhat  in 
richness,  the  product  at  the  first  was  an  uncertain  compound. 
After  a  time  a  desired  result  was  secured  by  remelting  the 
first  product  and  adding  calamine  or  copper  as  indicated. 

It  has  been  quite  reasonably  suggested  that  the  production 
of  brass  thus,  thought  to  be  an  entirely  new  metal,  and  pos- 
sessing widely  differing  properties  with  slight  variations  in 
the  constituent  materials,  was  one  of  the  factors  inspiring 
the  search  for  the  philosopher's  stone,  which  should  trans- 
form base  metal  into  gold. 

About  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  composi- 
tion of  calamine  became  known,  and  zinc  appeared  in  metal- 
lic form  in  the  market. 

In  1 78 1  the  modern  process  of  making  brass  by  the  direct 
fusion  of  copper  and  zinc  was  invented  by  James  Emerson 
in  England.* 

♦Article  on  "Brass  Founding",  Graham,  "Brit.  Mfg.  Ind.",  Bevan, 
P-  134- 


INTRODUCTORY  11 

Brass  is  ordinarily  composed  of  two  parts  of  copper  to  one 
of  zinc,  but  frequently  for  special  purposes  these  proportions 
are  varied  and  other  metals  are  introduced.  Even  in  the 
present  trade  much  confusion  remains  because  of  the  use  of 
secret  formulas,  practically  the  same  mixture  being  given 
different  names  by  different  manufacturers  or  in  different 
localities. 

For  casting  lead  is  added,  which  makes  the  casting 
sharper.  When  antimony  is  present  the  alloy  is  harder  but 
more  brittle.  Lead  diminishes  ductility.  Malleability  and 
ductility  vary  with  different  proportions  of  the  metals. 
Some  compounds  are  malleable  and  may  be  rolled  when  hot, 
some  when  cold,  and  some  not  at  all.  Copper  itself  is  always 
rolled  hot,  and  brass  is  rolled  cold.* 

In  ancient  times  and  during  the  middle  ages  bronze,  brass 
and  other  alloys  were  cast.  The  modem  process  is  first  to 
cast  the  metal  in  the  form  of  pigs  or  ingots  which  are  then 
rolled  into  sheets  or  strips,  then  blanks  are  cut  which  are 
manufactured  into  wares  as  desired. 

The  selected  metals  in  the  proportions  chosen  are  weighed 
and  placed  in  crucibles  holding  a  hundred  pounds  or  more. 
Copper  melts  at  about  2,200°  Fah.,  and  zinc  at  770°.  Brass 
melts  at  from  1,000°  to  2,000°.  It  might  be  expected  that 
there  would  be  some  loss  of  zinc  by  volatilization  or  com- 
bustion, and  this  is  experienced  to  some  degree ;  but  in  prac- 
tice the  zinc  combines  with  the  copper  so  readily  that  the 
loss  is  not  large.  When  brass  is  remelted  there  is  a  loss  of 
weight  of  from  4%  to  6%. 

*For  lists  of  different  alloys  and  their  properties  see  Article  by 
Graham  above,  p.  134.  Spon,  "Encyclopedia  of  Indust.  Arts",  Vol. 
I,  pp.  321-323.  W.  T.  Brannt,  "The  Metallic  Alloys."  Arthur  H. 
Hiorns,  "Mixed  Metals  or  Metallic  Alloys",  London,  1901,  pp. 
100-130. 


12  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

The  molten  metal  is  poured  into  moulds  or  run  into  pigs 
between  marble  slabs.  The  dimensions  of  the  pigs  are  de- 
termined by  the  use  for  which  the  metal  is  designed.  Brass 
for  rolling  is  never  cast  in  sand.  As  brass  is  rolled  it  be- 
comes hard  and  brittle  and  a  scale  of  oxide  forms.  The 
scale  is  removed  by  running  the  sheets  into  dilute  sulphuric 
acid  and  the  hardness  is  corrected  by  annealing. 

It  is  the  manufacture  of  brass  by  such  modern  processes,* 
thus  briefly  indicated,  which  was  introduced  into  Connecticut 
shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  and 
which  at  the  close  of  the  century  had  become  the  most  im- 
portant industry  in  the  State. 

*See  Article  by  A.  A.  Cowles  in  "loo  Years  of  American  Com- 
merce", C.  M.  Depew,  Vol.  I,  p.  335.  "Great  Industries  of  the 
U.  S.",  pp.  1048-1054.     Scientific  American,  May  i,  1880. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Early  Industrial  Conditions  in  Connecticut. 

Agriculture  and  its  limitations.  Emigration.  Trade  and  its  diffi- 
culties. Attempts  to  develop  mineral  resources;  lead,  copper, 
iron.  Other  early  industrial  ventures.  Household  industry 
and  its  development.  Tinware,  clocks,  pewter  britannia  and 
Grerman  silver. 

THE  early  settlers  of  Connecticut,  as  of  the  other  col- 
onies, were  agriculturalists.  The  soil,  especially  in 
the  river  valleys,  was  good,  returns  were  attractive, 
and  hence  the  clearing  and  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  was 
the  first  effort.  The  result  was  a  scattered  population. 
The  State  remained  essentially  rural  and  agricultural  until 
well  after  1800. 

It  is  the  uniform  testimony  of  travelers  of  the  period  that 
the  people  of  the  State  lived  well ;  they  were  well  fed,  warmly 
clad  and  comfortably  housed.*  The  abundance  of  provi- 
sions in  contrast  to  prevailing  conditions  in  England  and 
Europe  occasioned  remark.  But  it  is  equally  certain  that 
commodities  other  than  the  bare  products  of  the  land  were 
much  less  in  evidence.     In  the  earlier  period  such  posses- 

*"Letters  of  an  Englishman"  in  Conn.  Magazine  published  in 
1801.  "Travels  in  North  America  in  years  1827  and  '28",  Capt. 
Basil  Hall,  Phila.,  1829.  See  also  "The  American  Gazetteer",  Jedi- 
diah  Morse,  Boston,  1797.  "Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Ander- 
son, Vol.  I,  pp.  520-547.  "Travels  through  the  Northern  parts  of 
the  U.  S.  in  1807  and  1808",  E.  A.  Kendall,  Vol.  I,  pp.  85-88,  231, 
236,  248,  311.  "History  of  Conn.",  T.  Dwight,  Jr.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  135, 
136,  268,  269.  "Society  in  America",  Harriet  Martineau,  Vol.  II, 
p.  220.  "View  of  the  U.  S.  Historical,  Geographical,  etc.",  Wm. 
Darby,  p.  492. 


14  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

sions  as  beds,  "sithes",  saws  and  axes  were  carefully  handed 
down  from  father  to  son.*  Later  on  warming  pans,  and- 
irons, wooden  trenchers,  pewter  basins  and  other  vessels, 
simple  tools,  such  as  tongs,  a  brass  skillet,  chisels,  dividers, 
a  vise,t  also  bells,  "a  walking  staff  with  a  silver  head",  ap- 
pear as  carefully  treasured.  Articles  of  wearing  apparel 
other  than  coarse  homespun  are  severally  bequeathed  down 
to  silk  aprons  and  ribbons,  cambric  gowns,  linen  handker- 
chiefs and  a  fan.  Men,  too,  valued  coats  with  brass  buttons, 
silver  buckles,  beaver  hats,  silk  jackets  and  breeches,  boots 
and  spurs.J  After  the  Revolution  chaises,  watches,  clocks, 
silver  cups,  tankards  and  other  plate  were  taxable  and  found 
only  in  the  possession  of  the  richer  families. § 

Before  1800  the  river  valleys  were  well  settled,  ||  and  the 
possibilities  of  the  agricultural  development  of  the  State 
under  conditions  which  then  prevailed  were  pretty  well  de- 
fined and  found  to  be  limited.  There  were  two  possibilities  of 
improvement:  to  emigrate  to  the  North  or  West,  where  the 
agricultural  opportunities  were  said  to  be  more  promising; 
or  to  enlarge  economic  opportunity  by  engaging  in  trade  or 
in  manufacturing. 

*"New  Haven  Colonial  Records",  1653-1664,  Hoadley,  pp.  258, 
358,  et  al. 

f'Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  I,  p.  371. 

JSee  e.  g.  "History  of  Norwich,  Conn,  to  the  year  1866",  F.  M. 
Caulkins,  pages  from  2nd.  edition,  1874,  PP-  "^S?'  I7S.  I9i>  248,  333. 

§"North  Haven  Annals",  S.  B.  Thorpe,  New  Haven,  1892,  p.  258. 

I  |"T ravels  in  No.  Amer.  in  the  years  1780,  1781  and  1782  by  the 
Marquis  de  Chastellux.  Translated  with  notes  by  an  English  gen- 
tleman who  resided  in  America  at  that  period",  2  Vols.,  Dublin, 
1787,  Vol.  I,  pp.  44-47.  "Remarks  made  on  a  short  tour  between 
Hartford  and  Quebec  in  1819",  James  Silliman,  New  Haven,  1824, 
pp.  11-36. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  16 

The  first  response  which  the  natives  of  the  State  made  to 
the  limitation  of  agricultural  possibility  was  emigration.  At 
the  time  it  was  estimated  that  700,000  had  emigrated  by 
1820.*  But  since  the  movement  could  not  have  been  large 
before  the  Revolution,  and  since  the  population  of  the  State 
did  not  exceed  250,000  until  about  1800,  this  estimate  must 
be  a  very  liberal  one.  That  the  emigration  was,  however, 
proportionately  large  is  apparent  from  the  following  table, 
which  gives  a  comparison  of  the  increase  of  the  population 
of  the  State  of  Connecticut  in  the  first  column,  with  that  of 
the  whole  United  States  in  the  second.f 

1756-1774 51.5% 

1774-1790 20.2% 

1790-1800 5.5% 35.1% 

1800-1810 4.3% 36.4% 

1810-1820 5.1% 33-1% 

1820-1830 8.1% 33.5% 

1830-1840 4.1% 327% 

1840-1850 19.6% 35.9% 

1850-1860 24.1% 35-6% 

1860-1870 16.8% 22.6% 

1870-1880 15.5% 30-1% 

1880-1890 19-9% 24.9% 

1890-1900 21.7% 20.7% 

The  gross  increase  in  the  population  of  the  State  in  the 

*"New  Travels",  1788,  J.  P.  Brissot  de  Warville,  London,  1792, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  135,  136.  "Gazetteer  of  States  of  Conn,  and  R.  I.", 
Pease  and  Niles,  Hartford,  1819,  p.  11.  Confer  also  "Early  Trans- 
portation and  Banking  Enterprises  of  the  States,  etc.",  Prof.  G.  S. 
Callender  in  Jour,  of  Economics,  Vol.  17,  pp.  115,  117. 

fSee  "Travels  through  the  Northern  parts  of  the  United  States 
in  1807  and  1808",  E.  A.  Kendall,  3  Vols.,  N.  Y.,  1809,  Vol.  I,  pp. 
194,  195;  and  census  reports  of  U.  S.  from  1790. 


16  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

eighteen  years  from  1756  to  1774  was  67,000,  and  in  the 
eighteen  years  from  1782  to  1800  was  42,000,  while  during 
the  twenty  years  from  1800  to  1820  the  increase  was  but 
24,000,  and  from  1820  to  1840  but  35,000.  During  the  forty 
years  from  1800  to  1840  the  gross  increase  was  less  than 
59,000  as  compared  with  67,000  in  the  eighteen  years  from 
1756  to  1774.  After  1840  a  decided  change  appears,  the 
increase  being  over  60,000  in  the  next  decade,  and  this  rate 
was  well  maintained  except  during  the  Civil  War,  rising  to 
above  160,000  in  the  last  decade  of  the  century,  when  for  the 
first  time  the  rate  of  increase  was  larger  than  that  of  the 
country  as  a  whole. 

Further  evidence  of  depopulation  may  be  noted.  In  1782 
it  appears  that  there  were  nine  towns  with  a  population  of 
6,000  and  upwards,  containing  25.5%  of  the  total  of  the 
State.  They  were  in  order.  New  Haven,  with  7,966,  Nor- 
wich, New  London,  Farmington,  Hartford,  Stratford, 
Woodbury,  Fairfield  and  Stonington.  In  1800  there  were 
six  with  5,000  or  more,  containing  12.4%  of  the  total.  These 
were  Stonington,  with  5,437,  Hartford,  New  Haven,  New 
London,  Norwalk  and  Middletown.  In  1820  there  were  only 
three  with  more  than  5,000,  together  7.9% of  the  total  popu- 
lation of  the  State,  New  Haven,  Hartford  and  Middletown. 

Those  who  emigrated  did  nothing  to  solve  the  question  of 
the  local  needs ;  they  rather  evaded  it. 

For  those  who  remained  the  escape  from  the  limitation  of 
economic  opportunity  was  to  enlarge  the  scope  of  industry 
by  engaging  in  trade*  or  in  manufacturing.     Trade  was  not 

*Brissot  de  Warville  in  his  observations  on  the  commerce  of 
America  with  Europe  argues  that  America  must  engage  in  trade 
because  "having  no  manufactures  they  cannot  themselves  supply 
these  wants,  and  they  can  have  no  manufactures  for  a  long  time  to 
come."     2nd.  Volume  of  travels,  London,  1792,  p.  66. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  17 

promising.  Agricultural  products  were  available  for  ex- 
port.* New  Haven  was  early  interested  in  trade  with  the 
West  Indies,  but  this  was  more  largely  in  the  hands  of  New 
York  and  Boston  merchants  and  practically  controlled  by 
them.f  New  London  and  Stonington  were  interested  in 
whaling,!  but  this  did  not  contribute  to  more  than  local 
prosperity.  Away  from  the  coast  conditions  were  unfavor- 
able for  trade.  The  possibilities  of  trade  by  barter  were 
limited,  and  there  was  but  little  coin  or  currency  in  circula- 
tion. The  interior  towns  were  only  scattered  villages.  In 
1780,  Hartford,  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  interior  set- 
tlements, consisted  only  of  one  long  street  parallel  with  the 
river  and  did  "not  merit  attention  either  in  traveling  through 
it  or  in  speaking  of  it."§  Internal  means  of  communication 
were  either  absent  or  were  very  defective.  Transportation 
charges  were  prohibitive.  Imported  goods  consisting  mostly 
of  large  value  in  small  bulk  might  have  found  their  way  in, 
but  bulky  farm  produce  was  not  easily  carried  out.  As  late 
as  1780  the  roads  were  so  bad  as  to  admit  of  a  progress  of 
only  ten  miles  a  day,  even  for  a  light  load.|  |  During  the  next 
decade  considerable  improvement  was  made,  so  that  a  single 
horseman  under  very  favorable  circumstances  could  make 

♦"The  United  States  Gazetteer",  Joseph  Scott,  Phila.,  1795. 
"Travels",  E.  A.  Kendall,  Vol.  I,  p.  9.  "Travels",  Brissot  de  War- 
ville,  Vol.  II,  pp.  66-75  et  al.  As  late  as  1840  the  State  relied  upon 
agricultural  products  in  the  main  for  export.  "Hist,  of  Conn." 
T.  Dwight,  Jr.,  pp.  268,  269. 

t"Belcher  papers".  Collections  Mass.  Hist.  Society,  Sixth  Series, 
Vol.   VI. 

^"History  of  Conn.",  T.  Dwight,  Jr.,  p.  445. 

§"Travels  in  N.  A.  in  1780-82",  Chastellux,  Vol.  I,  p.  36;  also 
pp.  21,  48. 

I  ["Travels",  Chastellux,  Vol.  I,  p.  36;  H,  pp.  296,  452. 


18  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

fifty  miles  a  day.*  But  it  was  not  until  1790  that  turnpikes 
began  to  be  constructed,  and  the  incorporation  of  turnpike 
companies  was  not  begun  until  just  before  iSoo-f  After 
the  beginning  of  the  century  decided  improvement 
was  made,  so  that  by  1820  the  roads  were  in  fairly 
good  condition.!  Capital  which  might  have  been  available 
for  other  purposes  was  at  the  turn  of  the  century  demanded 
for  the  improvement  of  transportation,§  and  just  as  the  prob- 
lem was  in  a  fair  way  of  being  solved  the  policy  of  the 
national  government  dammed  the  stream  of  foreign  com- 
merce. After  1815  an  active  and  profitable  internal  trade 
was  carried  on. 

Of  the  period  during  which  foreign  trade  was  largely 
stopped,  a  contemporary,  in  1819,  wrote:  "The  late  war  had 
a  favorable  influence  in  stimulating  the  naturally  enterprising 
spirit  of  our  citizens  to  engage  in  various  manufacturing  pur- 
suits, thereby  developing  our  resources  and  opening  a  more 
extensive  and  varied  field  of  industry.  Many  of  the  germs  of 
manufacture,  to  which  the  war  afforded  life  and  growth, 
have  been  blighted  with  the  mildew  of  foreign  goods  with 
which  the  peace  inundated  the  country.  Many  establish- 
ments have  fallen,  and  many  individuals  who  had  invested 
their  whole  capitals  in  the  business  have  been  sacrificed  and 
others  severely  injured.  The  seeds  of  manufacture  were 
sown  in  this  country  during  the  war.     Those  who  engaged 

*"Travels",  Brissot  de  Warville,  Vol.  I,  p.  143. 

t'Travels",  Kendall,  Vol.  I,  pp.  97,  129,  235,  255,  302,  303. 

^''Remarks  on  Tour",  Silliman,  pp.  11-36. 

§Prof.  G.  S.  Callender,  "Early  Transportation  and  Banking  Enter- 
prises of  the  States,  etc."  in  Journal  of  Economics,  Vol.  17,  p.  131 
fol.     See  Note  *,  page  23. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  19 

in  the  business  upon  a  moderate  scale  and  conducted  it  upon 
principles  of  economy  have  best  withstood  the  shock."* 

While  it  is  true  as  will  be  later  noted  that  many  of  the 
seeds  from  which  the  important  manufacturing  establish- 
ments of  the  State  developed  were  planted  about  1800,  yet 
it  is  not  true  that  this  was  the  first  indication  of  such  enter- 
prise on  the  part  of  the  people  of  the  State.  From  the  early 
settlement  of  the  colony  attempts  were  made  to  supplement 
its  agricultural  products  by  a  development  of  its  mineral 
resources,  and  during  the  colonial  period  several  attempts 
were  made  to  establish  manufactures. 

The  mineral  resources  of  the  State  were  at  the  first 
thought  to  be  very  promising.  It  has  been  said  that  every 
known  mineral  could  be  found  within  its  limits,  but  in  quan- 
tity just  under  the  point  of  profitable  production.!  Copper 
and  iron  were  widely  encountered.  An  ore  containing  lead, 
zinc,  copper,  silver  and  bismuth  was  exposed  near  Middle- 
town.:]:  Cobalt  was  discovered  in  Chatham,  §  manganese  in 
Lebanon,  1 1  and  gold,  silver,  nickel  and  copper  in  Ledyard.f 
The  only  deposits  which  were  ever  continuously  worked 
were  the  lead  mines  in  Middletown,  copper  in  Granby  and 
iron  in  Salisbury  and  vicinity. 

The  lead  mines  at  Middletown  were  exploited  by  English- 

*"Gazetteer  of  the  States  of  Conn,  and  R.  I.",  Pease  and  Niles, 
pp.  135,  136. 

t"In  Olde  Connecticut",  C.  B.  Todd,  N.  Y.,  1906,  p.  156. 

^''Historical  Collection  of  the  part  sustained  by  Conn,  during  the 
war  of  the  Revolution",  R.  R.  Hinman,  Hartford,  1842,  p.  264. 
"Centennial  Address",  D.  D.  Field,  Middletown,  1853,  pp.  70,  159-161. 

§"Travels",  T.  Dwight,  Vol.  I,  pp.  34  35-  "Centennial  Address", 
Field,  pp.  274-276. 

H  "Travels",  T.  Dwight,  Vol.  I,  pp.  34,  35- 

^["History  of  the  town  of  Ledyard",  Avery,  1901,  p.  10. 


20  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

men  before  the  Revolution.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the 
mines  were  seized  by  the  colony  and  a  few  hundred  pounds 
of  metal  were  used  for  bullets.  But  in  1778  operations 
ceased,  because  considered  unprofitable,  and  were  never 
again  resumed. 

In  1705  a  vein  of  copper  ore  was  discovered  in  Simsbury. 
In  1712  another  vein  was  exposed  in  what  is  now  Cheshire.* 
Other  undertakings  were  for  a  short  time  carried  on  in  East 
Hartford,t  Bristol^  and  at  other  points.  At  Cheshire  the 
paying  ore  lay  only  in  small  pockets  and  the  shafts  were 
soon  abandoned. §  More  extensive  operations  were  carried 
on  at  Simsbury.  1 1  The  oldest  mining  charter  in  the  country 
was  given  in  1709  to  the  company  which  worked  this  mine.^ 
For  thirty  years  from  1707  these  operators  were  actively  en- 

*T.  Dwight,  "Travels",  Vol.  II,  p.  50.  "Complete  History  of 
Conn.'',  Benj.  Trumbull,  D.  D.,  1818,  Vol.  II,  pp.  40-46.  "History 
of  town  of  Hamden",  Blake,  pp.  70-74. 

t"East  Hartford,  Its  History  and  Traditions",  Goodwin,  Hartford, 

1879,  P-  157- 

{"Centennial  Celebration  of  Incorporation  of  town  of  Bristol",  p. 
46.     Connecticut  Quarterly,  Vol.  HI,  1897,  p.  23. 

§"Historical  Sketches  of  Meriden",  G.  W.  Perkins,  pp.  76-82. 
"Olde  Historic  Homes  of  Cheshire",  Brown  and  Paddock,  1895,  pp. 

133,  134- 

||For  the  Simsbury  mine  see;  "History  of  Newgate  of  Conn.", 
R.  H.  Phelps,  Albany,  i860.  "Connecticut  Historical  Collections", 
J.  W.  Barber,  2nd.  edition.  New  Haven,  1837,  pp.  93-96.  "In  Olde 
Connecticut",  C.  B.  Todd,  pp.  153-156.  Farmington  Magaine,  Vol. 
II,  No.  2,  Apr.,  1902,  p.  II.  The  profits  of  the  Simsbury  mine  ac- 
crued to  capitalists  elsewhere.  Much  ore  was  shipped  by  Boston 
merchants.  For  notices  of  such  shipments  see  "Belcher  papers", 
in  Collections  Mass.  Hist.  Society,  Sixth  series,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  30,  40, 
50,  80,  124,  269  et  al.  Also  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  pp. 
S08-510. 

l["The  Great  Industries  of  the  U.  S.",  p.  480. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  21 

gaged.  They  reported  that  £15,000  had  been  expended  by 
them.  The  legislature  passed  several  bills  designed  to  en- 
courage the  workers.  Since  the  laws  of  England  forbade 
smelting  the  ore  here,  the  product  of  the  mine  was  shipped 
thither,  many  consignments  being  made.  Small  amounts 
were  smelted  here,  notwithstanding  the  prohibition.  After 
1737,  the  returns  not  being  satisfactory,  the  energy  of  the 
undertakers  flagged  and  the  deposit  has  been  worked  but  in- 
termittently since.  For  a  short  time  in  1837  and  again  in 
1857  operations  were  carried  on. 

The  iron  mines  were  more  to  the  purpose.  The  first  iron 
produced  in  Connecticut,  as  elsewhere  in  New  England,  was 
smelted  from  bog  ore.  John  Winthrop  erected  the  first 
smelter  in  the  colonies  at  Lynn,  Mass.,  in  i6z^.*  Five  years 
later  he  located  the  first  in  Connecticut  at  Montville.f  In 
1655  another  plant  was  erected  at  East  Haven,:|:  and  many 
others  were  subsequently  located,  some  of  which  continued 
in  operation  until  well  after  i8oo.§  Notwithstanding  the 
Act  of  Parliament  which  ordered  that  after  June  24,  1750, 
the  colonies  should  be  forbidden  to  erect  or  to  operate  forg- 
ing, rolling  or  slitting  mills,  or  to  make  steel,  it  appears 
that  many  forges  were  in  operation  all  through  the  colonial 
period.  1 1 

The  important  development  of  iron  mining  and  manufac- 

*"Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  472. 

f'History  of  Montville",  H.  A.  Baker,  Hartford,  1896,  p.  622. 

t"The  East  Haven  Register",  Stephen  Dodd,  1824,  pp.  23-27. 
"History  of  the  Colony  of  N.  H.  etc.",  Lambert,  1838,  p.  84. 

§"History  of  Middlesex  County",  N.  Y.,  1884,  pp.  178,  566.  Digest 
Amer.  Mfrs.,  1823. 

ll'Travels",  Kendall,  Vol.  1,  p.  231.  "History  of  Norwich", 
Caulkins,  p.  606.  Preface,  "History  of  American  Clock  Business", 
Jerome.     "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  514,  507. 


22  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

turing  was  in  Litchfield  County.*  Here  is  found  an  exten- 
sive deposit  of  brown  hematite  or  limonite  ore.  Just  after 
1730  these  beds  were  located  and  explored.  In  1734  the 
first  furnace  and  forge  was  erected,!  and  in  1762  another  ex- 
tensive plant  was  organized  by  Ethan  Allen  of  Massa- 
chusetts.$ 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  the  works  in  the  vicinity 
of  Salisbury  were  seized  by  the  Government  and  it  was 
ordered  that  they  should  be  operated  for  the  good  of  the 
cause.  §  A  committee  of  safety  expended  ;£  1,450  in  fitting 
them  up  and  a  considerable  force  was  constantly  employed. 
These  men  were  freed  from  militia  engagements,  and  the 
plant  was  considered  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  hands 
of  the  Government.  Here  the  cannon  for  the  "Constitution" 
were  cast,  with  other  war  material  such  as  cannon,  shot  and 
shell,  anchors,  pots,  kettles  and  also  the  chains  which  were 
stretched  across  the  Hudson  River.  1 1  Just  after  the  Revolu- 
tion these  ore  beds  were  thought  to  be  the  most  important  in 
the  country,  and  it  was  said  that  Salisbury  was  destined  to 
become  the  Birmingham  of  America.^  After  1800,  how- 
ever, Pennsylvania  came  to  the  front  and  the  Connecticut 
production  rapidly  dwindled  into  insignicance.** 

*"History  of  Kent",  Atwater,  pp.  86-99. 

f'Historical  Address  at  the  Commemoration  of  looth  Anniversary 
of  Salisbury",  Samuel  Church,  New  Haven,  1842,  p.  53.  "Hist.  Amer. 
Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  511. 

|"Historical  Address",  Church,  p.  54. 

§"Historical  Address",  Church,  pp.  42,  43.  "Historical  Collection", 
Hinman,  pp.  239,  264,  265.     "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  pp. 

Sii,  512. 

1 1  "Life  of  Jonathan  Trumbull",  Stuart,  pp.  255,  256. 
i["Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  512;  Vol.  H,  p.  259. 
**Bishop  states  that  the  first  iron  foundry  in  Pittsburg  was  erected 
in  1804.    Bishop,  Vol.  HI,  p.  105. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  23 

Impelled  by  their  need  the  colonists  from  the  early  days 
sought  to  establish  industry  other  than  agricultural.  Be- 
cause of  the  lack  of  capital*  and  as  well  in  view  of  the  ab- 
sence of  a  large  or  reliable  market,  the  first  adventurers  gen- 
erally looked  to  the  colony  for  assistance.  What  appears 
to  be  the  first  patent  granted  by  either  the  Connecticut  or 
New  Haven  colonies  is  dated  May  25,  1647.  At  that  time  a 
certain  Mr.  Whiting  was  given  the  exclusive  right  to  take 
whales  in  the  Connecticut  River  for  seven  years,  he  being 
granted  two  years  in  which  to  prove  his  ability  to  exercise 
this  right.f  The  subsequent  value  of  this  concession  does 
not  appear.  With  this  worthy  precedent  many  were  the 
efforts  to  secure  aid  from  the  colony  for  doubtful  undertak- 
ings. 

No  original  papers  referring  to  the  setting  up  of  manu- 
factures in  the  state  survive  for  the  period  before  17 16. 
But  all  through  the  eighteenth  century  the  Colonial  Assem- 
bly was  appealed  to  for  assistance.  These  enterprises,  how- 
ever, although  some  of  them  were  undertaken  and  prose- 
cuted with  commendable  energy,  were  in  general  unsuccess- 
ful.    Many   of   the  promoters    according    to    their    own 

*Kendall  in  1807  notes  the  lack  of  capital  in  Conn,  as  compared 
with  Boston  and  N.  Y.  "Travels",  Vol.  I,  p.  139.  See  also  "Sketch 
of  Internal  Condition  of  U.  S.  A.  Result  of  observations  in  1810-12 
and  1819",  By  a  Russian,  Baltimore,  1826,  pp.  115,  116.  The  enter- 
prises in  the  i8th  century  which  required  considerable  capital  were 
financed  by  men  from  other  colonies.  John  Winthrop  represented 
Mass.  capital.  Iron  smelting  and  Simsbury  copper  mine  drew  from 
outside  capital.  The  Middletown  lead  mines  were  exploited  by  Eng- 
lishmen. In  Connecticut  capital  seemed  more  scarce  than  in  Massa- 
chusetts. 

t"Public  Records  of  the  colony  of  Conn,  prior  to  union  with  the 
N.  H.  colony,  1636-1665",  J.  H.  Trumbull,  Hartford,  1850,  Vol.  I, 
p.  154- 


24  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

statements  lost  heavily,  and  they  were  generally  shortly 
abandoned.  It  is  not  surprising  that  many  surrendered  and 
emigrated.  Notwithstanding  these  unfortunate  precedents 
there  were  to  be  found  shortly  after  the  Revolution  at  several 
points  within  the  State  the  beginnings  of  many  enterprises 
which  later  turned  the  tide  of  population  and  which  raised 
Connecticut  to  the  high  rank  which  it  now  occupies  as  an 
industrial  State.  These  beginnings  are  to  be  found  in  house- 
hold industry,  rather  than  in  the  professedly  larger  under- 
takings. 

All  through  the  eighteenth  century  the  household  manu- 
facture of  iron  and  of  the  textiles  was  carried  on  largely  and 
successfully.*  From  the  smelters  iron  was  secured  which 
was  forged  into  spades,  plows  and  other  farm  utensils  with 
the  assistance  of  wayside  forges  which  abounded,  and  the 
village  blacksmith,  if  one  was  at  hand.f  The  strips  of  iron 
as  they  came  from  the  slitting  mills  were  hammered  into 
nails  during  the  winter  or  as  needed.ij:  The  household 
manufacture  of  the  textiles  was  universal.  This  was  the 
main  source  of  the  supply  of  the  needs  of  the  household.§ 

*For  such  industry  see:  "General  History  of  Conn,  prior  to  the 
Revolution",  By  a  gentleman  of  the  province,  London,  1781,  Re- 
printed New  Haven,  1829,  pp.  199,  200  et  al.  Kendall,  "Travels", 
Vol.  I.  Chastellux,  "Travels",  Vol.  I,  pp.  38,  39;  H,  p.  447  et  al. 
Brissot  de  Warville,  "Travels",  Vol.  H,  p.  6S  et  al.  Also  Gazetteers : 
Scott,  1795;  Morse,  1797;  Pease  and  Niles,  1819.  Household  in- 
dustry survived  until  towards  1850.  "Hist,  of  Conn.",  Arthur  & 
Carpenter,  1854,  Reprinted  Phila.,  1872,  p.  284. 

fKendall,  "Travels",  Vol.  I,  p.  231. 

JSee  Note  ||,  page  21. 

§Hamilton  in  1790  reports  that  from  2-3  to  4-5  of  all  clothing 
was  supplied  by  the  household.  Gallatin  in  1810  repeats  this  esti- 
mate, applying  it  however  particularly  to  the  country.  See  respective 
reports.     See  also  "Society  in  America",  Martineau,  London,  1837, 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  25 

As  a  direct  development  of  this,  in  1810  Connecticut  was 
farther  advanced  than  Massachusetts  in  the  manufacture  of 
textiles,  and  this  for  three-quarters  of  a  century  retained 
first  place  in  the  industry  of  the  State.*  Until  well  towards 
the  middle  of  the  century  the  making  of  boots  and  shoes 
was  more  nearly  related  to  the  household  than  to  any  other 
form  of  industry.f 

But  in  this  development  of  iron  working  and  of  the  textile 
manufacture  conditions  in  Connecticut  did  not  differ  from 
those  which  prevailed  in  the  other  colonies.  There  were, 
however,  here  some  unique  developments  of  household  in- 
dustry. The  brass  industry  itself  runs  back  into  the  house- 
hold, as  will  be  noted  in  the  following  chapter.  This,  how- 
ever, was  only  one  of  many  ventures  which  were  made  about 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  As  several  of 
these  later  came  into  close  connection  with  the  rising  brass 
industry  they  will  first  be  considered. 

The  first  in  time  and  as  well  the  most  important  both  be- 
cause of  its  immediate  history  and  because  of  its  indirect  in- 
fluence upon  other  manufactures  was  the  making  of  tinware. 

The  manufacture  of  culinary  vessels  and  household  arti- 
cles from  sheet  tin  was  begiin  by  William  Pattison  and  his 
brother  Edward,  who  coming  from  Ireland  settled  in  Berlin 

Vol.  II,  p.  229.  Kendall,  "Travels",  Vol.  I,  p.  89.  "General  Hist, 
of  Conn.",  By  a  gentleman  of  the  province,  N.  H.  reprint,  1829,  p. 
199.  Not  only  was  the  weaving  of  wool  and  flax  carried  on  in  the 
household,  but  also  of  silk.    Kendall,  "Travels",  Vol.  I,  p.  251. 

*Bishop,  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Vol.  II,  pp.  78,  79,  419-421.  Gal- 
latin's Report,  1810. 

t"History  of  Conn.",  Arthur  &  Carpenter,  Phila.  reprint,  1872,  p. 
284.  "Statistics  of  certain  branches  of  industry  in  Conn.",  Oct.  i, 
1845,  D.  P.  Tyler,  Sec.  of  State. 


26  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

about  1740.*  After  supplying  their  neighbors  they  reached 
out  for  a  larger  market.  Their  wares  were  sold  from  house 
to  house,  at  first  by  the  brothers  themselves,  afterwards  by 
peddlers  whom  they  employed.  As  it  was  easy  to  make  a 
much  larger  product  than  the  local  market  could  absorb,  for 
some  time  the  brothers  kept  the  manufacture  to  themselves. 
After  1760,  however,  they  consented  to  train  a  few  appren- 
tices, and  after  the  Revolution  their  peddlers  extended  the 
scope  of  their  operations.  At  first  on  foot,  then  on  horse- 
back and  finally  by  wagon  they  sold  their  wares  all  over  the 
t  Inited  States.  After  a  little  a  type  of  wagon  was  perfected 
for  this  trade.  A  one  or  two  horse  vehicle  was  developed 
to  carry  prominently  displayed  samples  of  wares,  strongly 
built,  which  was  driven  wherever  the  roads  allowed.  The 
peddlers  ranged  from  Montreal  and  Quebec  to  Charleston 
and  through  the  South,  also  far  to  the  West,  even  across 
the  Mississippi.!  They  traded  by  sale  or  by  barter,  making 
use  of  every  means  which  ingenuity  could  suggest  to  place 
the  goods  which  they  happened  to  have.  These  Connecticut 
peddlers    were    for    the    South    and    West    the    original 

♦"Travels  in  N.  E.  and  N.  Y.",  Dwight,  Vol.  II,  pp.  51-55 ;  IV,  p. 
483.  "Gazetteer  of  the  States  of  Conn,  and  R.  I.",  Pease  and  Niles, 
PP-  15.  57-  "History  of  New  Britain",  Camp,  pp.  266,  267.  "Con- 
necticut, a  Study  of  a  Commonwealth-Democracy",  A.  Johnston,  Bos- 
ton, 1903,  pp.  357-359.    "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  575. 

fMany  references  are  made  to  the  methods  of  these  peddlers  and 
the  extent  of  their  operations.  See  in  addition  to  references  under 
Note  above,  the  following:  "Travels  through  U.  S.  and  Canada  in 
1818  and  1819",  John  M.  Duncan,  N.  Y.  and  N.  H.,  1823,  p.  107.  A 
good  description  of  the  sharpness  of  the  trader.  Also  "Travels", 
Kendall,  Vol.  I,  p.  129.  The  wagon  described.  Also  "A  Century  of 
Meriden",  Gillespie,  Pt.  Ill,  p.  39.  This  organization  continued  till 
1850.  "Hist,  of  Conn.",  Arthur  &  Carpenter,  Phila.  reprint,  1872,  p. 
284. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  27 

"Yankees"  and  became  a  recognized  institution  all  through 
the  country. 

The  establishments  in  Connecticut  were  not  operated  con- 
tinuously in  the  earlier  period.  The  market  did  not  permit 
of  it.  The  employers  opened  their  shops  during  the  summer 
in  the  North,  and  during  the  winter  they  moved  to  Phila- 
delphia and  Baltimore,  where  they  continued  their  opera- 
tions. After  1800,  however,  the  selling  of  the  product  was 
fully  organized,  and  for  forty  years  and  more  Connecticut 
was  the  center  of  this  industry.*  In  1810  two-thirds  of  the 
product  of  the  country  came  from  this  State.f  In  1832  still 
Connecticut  controlled  the  Southern  and  Western  trade.J 
In  1845  after  iron  manufactures,  brass  wares  and  clocks, 
the  making  of  tinware  was  the  most  important  metal  work- 
ing industry  in  the  State. §  But  after  the  middle  of  the  cen- 
tury this  manufacture  declined  and  practically  disappeared, 
for  in  1885  only  two  or  three  small  shops  with  two  or  three 
hands  each  remained.  1 1 

During  its  most  prosperous  period,  however,  this  industry 

♦"Travels",  Dwight,  Vol.  IV,  p.  490.  "Hist,  of  Conn.",  T.  Dwight, 
Jr.,  p.  413- 

fSee  Gallatin's  report,  Amer.  State  Papers,  1832,  Finance,  Vol.  II, 
p.  429,  and  Tench  Coxe,  "Tabular  Statement"  and  "Series  of  Tables." 
The  sheet  tin  was  all  imported.  In  1815,  10,000  boxes  were  used  by 
the  Berlin  shops  alone.  "Travels",  Dwight,  II,  p.  55.  In  the  year 
ending  Sept.  30,  1823,  sheet  tin  was  imported  at  an  invoice  value  of 
$386,540.  "Statement  of  the  cost  of  mfr.,  etc.",  i8th  Cong.,  ist.  Sess., 
Doc.  72,  Feb.  12,  1824. 

^"Documents  relative  to  mfrs.  in  U.  S.",  1832,  ist.  Sess.,  22nd. 
Cong.,  Doc.  308. 

§"Statistics  of  certain  branches  of  industry  in  Conn.",  Oct.  i,  1845. 

I  ["Memorial  Hist,  of  Hartford  County",  J.  H.  Trumbull,  Boston, 
1886,  Vol.  II,  p.  22. 


28  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

was  advanced  hardly  beyond  the  household  stage.  As  late 
as  1845  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  there  were 
barely  ten  workmen  to  each  establishment.* 

The  most  valuable  contribution  which  the  tinware  manu- 
facture made  to  the  industrial  history  of  the  State  was  the 
trade  organization  which  it  perfected.  The  itinerant  vendors, 
who  were  at  the  first  interested  in  the  main  in  the  sale  of  tin- 
ware, found  their  occupation  continued  in  the  sale  of  other 
small  articles  provided  for  them  by  Connecticut  enterprise. 
The  sale  of  the  product  was  decidedly  the  more  important 
end  of  the  business.  In  18 15  single  shops  sent  out  as  many 
as  twenty  or  thirty  of  these  peddlers,f  in  some  cases  twice 
as  many  as  the  workmen  in  the  home  establishment.  Until 
1850  the  peddlers  of  Connecticut  merchandise  were  known 
all  over  the  country,  and  the  part  which  they  played  in  the 
marketing  of  the  local  manufactures  of  small  wares  can 
hardly  be  exaggerated.^  In  1850  their  stock  in  trade  was 
clocks,  copper  tin  and  brass  wares,  hats,  shoes,  combs,  axes, 
buttons,  saddlery  and  paper.  These  wares  were  even  then 
generally  made  in  small  quantities  in  small  establishments 
with  limited  capital,  but  the  aggregate  of  production  was 
large. 

Another  industry,  developed  from  the  household,  with  a 
much  more  brilliant  history  than  the  making  of  tinware,  was 
the  clock  manufacture.  Before  1800  clocks  were  made  of 
wood.  It  is  known  that  they  were  made  on  a  small  scale,  in 
the  household,  in  several  places  in  the  State ;  for  example,  in 

*"A  Century  of  Meriden",  Gillespie,  Pt.  I,  pp.  346-360. 

f'History  of  New  Britain",  Camp,  pp.  266,  267. 

:|:"Hist.  of  Conn.",  Arthur  &  Carpenter,  Phila.  reprint,  1872,  p.  284. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  ,      29 

Waterbiiry,  Bristol,  Meriden,  Plymouth  and  Winchester.* 
The  parts  were  roughly  cut  by  hand  saws  and  finished  by 
hand  lathes  and  knives.  The  finished  article  was  quite  ex- 
pensive. Good  wooden  clocks  cost  in  the  market  from  $20 
upwards.  A  seven  foot  hall  clock  in  1810  cost  $20  for  the 
works,  and  as  much  more  for  the  case.  As  late  as  1825  a 
peddler  could  sell  such  a  clock  for  $100  in  Louisiana.f  As 
the  actual  cost  of  the  raw  material  was  small,  clock  making 
was  considered  a  profitable  trade.  A  small  maker  would 
finish  two  or  three  clocks,  then  peddle  them  on  horseback, 
returning  to  his  shop  when  they  were  sold.J 

Before  1800  efforts  were  made  to  use  brass  for  the  work- 
ing parts.  The  wheels  were  cast  and  finished  by  hand.§ 
This  effort  was  stimulated  by  the  difficulty  in  securing  sea- 
soned wood  which  would  resist  the  influence  of  dampness; 
which  difficulty  made  the  export  of  clocks  impossible  and 
interfered  seriously  with  the  Southern  trade.     In  1818  again 

♦"Travels",  Dwight,  Vol.  II,  p.  368.  "Gazetteer",  Pease  &  Niles, 
p.  15  et  al.  "Hist,  of  the  American  Clock  Business",  Jerome,  N.  H., 
i860.  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  ^77  et  al.  "Memorial 
History  of  Hartford  County",  Trumbull,  Vol.  II,  p.  57.  "Hist,  of 
the  town  of  Plymouth,  Conn.",  ,F.  Atwater,  Meriden,  1895,  pp.  219- 
239.  "Recollections  of  a  N.  E.  town"  (Meriden),  Breckenridge, 
Meriden,  1899,  pp.  6-9.     "History  of  Waterbury",  Bronson,  p.  380. 

t"Hist.  Amer.  Clock  Business",  Jerome,  pp.  18,  51.  It  was  the 
practice  of  the  peddlers  to  charge  all  that  the  traffic  would  bear. 

^"History  of  Amer.  Clock  Business",  Jerome,  pp.  35-37.  Clocks 
were  sold  to  some  extent  by  peddlers  all  throtigh  the  South.  As  late 
as  1840  the  trade  was  actively  in  their  hands.     See  Jerome,  pp.  46,  54, 

70. 

§"History  of  Town  of  Plymouth",  Atwater,  p.  220.  Clocks  with 
works  of  cast  brass  were  at  this  time  imported  from  Germany. 
Such  importation  had  begun  early  in  the  eighteenth  century  and  the 
trade  continued  until  after  1830. 


30  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

an  attempt  was  made  to  use  brass  and  iron,  the  casting 
process  still  being  used.*  But  the  result  was  not  satisfactory 
and  the  enterprise  was  abandoned.  The  cost  was  prohibi- 
tive, such  clocks  being  worth  from  $40  to  $75. f  The  fin- 
ished article  was  heavy  and  unwieldy  and  could  not  compete 
with  imported  metal  clocks. 

In  1793,  Eli  Terry, $  who  had  learned  the  trade  from  an 
Englishman,  came  to  Northbury,  then  a  part  of  Waterbury, 
and  began  the  making  of  wooden  clocks  by  the  old  hand 
methods.§  Two  years  later,  in  1795,  Northbury  was  incor- 
porated as  Plymouth.  On  Nov.  27,  1797,  he  received  letters 
patent  on  certain  improvements  in  the  manufacture  and  en- 
deavored to  establish  himself  in  the  business.  ||  He  moved 
from  Plymouth  hill  into  the  valley  by  the  river  where  Thom- 
aston  now  is  and  became  the  first  extensive  maker  of 
clocks  in  the  State  and  eventually  raised  the  industry  from 
the  household  stage.  In  1802  he  began  the  use  of  water 
power.]!  In  1807  he  introduced  the  making  of  interchange- 
able parts,**  and  undertook  to  make  3,000  clocks  in  one  year, 

*Pease  and  Niles,  "Gazetteer",  1819,  p  59.  Jerome,  "History",  p. 
40. 

t"History  of  Waterbury",  Bronson,  p.  436. 

JTerry  was  born  in  South  Windsor,  Ct.,  Apr.  13,  1772.  "Hist. 
Plymouth",  Atwater,  p.  219.  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  I, 
p.  520.  See  also  article  in  Scientific  Amer.  Supplement,  Vol. 
27,  June  IS,  1889. 

§Census  1900,  Mfrs.  Pt.  H,  Vol.  VHI,  p.  78.  At  least  one  clock 
made  by  Eli  Terry  with  wooden  wheels  for  the  tower  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Plymouth  is  still  running  in  good  order. 

IIBishop,  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Vol.  HI,  p.  75- 

IfBishop,  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Vol.  HI,  p.  97- 

**"History  of  Plymouth",  Atwater,  p.  221.  Jerome,  "History",  pp. 
16,  36.     "American  Clock  Making",  Terry,  Waterbury,  1872,  p.  3. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  31 

This  was  thought  to  be  a  larger  output  than  any  other  shop 
in  the  country  and  was  considered  an  impossible  task.  In 
1808  Terry  sold  his  Thomaston  shop  to  Seth  Thomas  and 
the  output  increased  notably.  In  1810  in  Litchfield  County 
alone  4,000  wooden  clocks  were  made,*  which  output  was 
increased  threefold  during  the  next  decade.f 

Mr.  Terry  was  constantly  working  to  improve  processes 
designed  to  cheapen  the  product.  In  1814  he  invented  a 
shelf  clock,  still  of  wood,  which  could  be  sold  at  a  profit  for 
$15 ;  and  after  1820  these  alone  were  made  at  the  rate  of 
10,000  a  year.J  Other  patents  were  issued  in  1816,  1822 
and  1825,  and  until  1837  the  wooden  clock  dominated  the 
market.  At  this  time  very  few  clocks  were  made  outside  of 
Connecticut,  and  within  the  State  Plymouth  was  the  most 
important  center. § 

Efforts  were  continually  being  made  to  secure  satisfactory 
results  by  the  use  of  metal.  Iron  and  steel  were  rejected  be- 
cause of  rust,  j  I  Some  cast  brass  was  used  especially  for  ex- 
pensive works.  About  1825  sheet  brass  appears,  the  parts 
being  cut  from  the  metal  by  machinery.jf     At  this  time  the 

*Tench  Coxe,  "Series  of  Tables." 

fDigest  of  Mfrs.,  1823. 

tThis  shelf  clock  was  a  30  hour  clock,  and  its  cheapness  made 
the  cast  brass  clock  an  impossibility.  Jerome,  "History",  p.  39. 
"History  of  Plymouth",  Atwater,  pp.  220-221. 

§See  "Series  of  Tables",  Tench  Coxe.  Digest  of  Mfrs.,  1823.  Ac- 
cording to  Bishop  (Vol.  II,  p.  377)  in  1833,  $50,000  worth  of 
wooden  clocks  were  made  in  Meriden,  and  (Vol.  II,  p.  396)  in  1835, 
100,000  clocks,  mostly  of  wood,  were  made  in  Conn.  See  also 
U.  S.  Gov't,  report  on  manufactures,  Jan.  19,  1832;  and  Statistics 
etc.,  of  certain  branches  of  industry  (Conn.),  Oct.  i,  1845. 

1 1  In  1830  a  patent  was  given  J.  P.  Bakewell  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  for 
glass  wheels  for  clocks!  (Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  35i)- 

^"Hist.  of  Plymouth",  Atwater,  pp.  219-223.  The  first  sheet  brass 
wheels  were  cut  from  old  kettles. 


32  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

wooden  clocks  were  in  the  main  of  an  eight  day  model,  and 
the  first  users  of  brass  thought  it  necessary  to  adopt  this 
design.  A  sheet  brass  clock  could  at  this  time  be  made  and 
sold  for  $20.  The  constant  cheapening  of  the  wooden  pro- 
duct kept  them  from  a  large  sale.  In  1837,  Chauncey  Jerome, 
who  had  been  employed  by  Terry  since  181 6,  perfected  a 
radical  and  revolutionary  invention  as  he  placed  upon  the 
market  a  one  day  brass  clock,  which  could  be  manufactured 
for  $6,  and  which  at  the  start  was  sold  in  competition  with 
$10  or  $15  wooden  clocks.*  The  panic  of  1837  seriously 
affected  some  of  the  older  makers  and  Jerome's  invention 
was  an  instant  success.  In  1842  a  consignment  of  Jerome's 
clocks  was  sent  to  England,  which  was  the  beginning  of  a 
large  and  very  profitable  trade.f  The  possibility  of  large 
profits  attracted  other  makers  and  the  manufacture  increased 
notably.  By  1840  a  yearly  output  valued  at  nearly  $1,000,- 
000  was  reached.  Then  competition  lowered  prices  to  a 
disastrous  extent.  In  1855  Jerome's  own  company  failed 
and  others  also.  Production  decreased  for  a  time,  until  the 
panic  of  1857  finally  cleared  the  field  and  the  business  be- 
came established  on  a  permanent  basis. 

Jerome's  invention  in  1837  increased  greatly  and  suddenly 
the  demand  for  sheet  brass,  and  it  came  at  just  the  time 
when  the  brass  mills  were  in  a  position  to  meet  this  demand. 

Another  household  industry  which  had  a  notable  develop- 
ment, and  which  also  was  later  in  close  connection  with  the 

*"Hist.  Clock  Business",  Jerome,  pp.  60-64. 

tjerome,  "Hist.",  pp.  60-64.  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  H, 
p.  427.  Clocks  of  an  invoice  value  of  $1.50  paid  twenty  per  cent 
duty  and  sold  freely  in  England  for  twenty  dollars  each.  Many 
thousands  were  exported.  Indeed  until  1900  brass  clocks  were  the 
most  important  item  of  export  in  the  whole  list  of  brass  manufac- 
tures. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  33 

brass  industry,  was  the  making  of  pewter  and  britannia 
ware.  About  1800  there  were  several  small  shops  engaged 
in  the  production  of  pewter  wares.  The  most  important 
were  in  Hartford,  Meriden  and  Wallingford.*  Pewter  was 
a  mixture  of  tin  and  lead,  in  the  proportion  of  four  to  one.f 
It  fused  readily.  The  process  was  to  cast  the  metal  in  the 
form  desired,  the  articles  being  then  finished  by  lathe  or  by 
hand  tools.  The  first  wares  were  spoons,  plates  or  platters, 
basins  or  mugs.J     The  product  was  marketed  by  peddlers. 

In  181 5,  Charles  Yale,  who  had  been  selling  tinware  in  the 
South,  with  his  brother  Hiram,  in  Wallingford,  made  a 
more  pretentious  venture.  They  secured  skilled  workmen 
with  improved  processes  from  England  and  it  is  believed 
that  their  establishment  was  the  largest  in  its  line  in  the 
country.  Here  britannia  was  first  used,  the  formula  being 
obtained  from  the  English  workmen. §  In  this  alloy  anti- 
mony was  substituted  for  part  of  the  lead  in  pewter.  The 
exact  formula  was  considered  a  valuable  trade  secret.  The 
metal  was  harder  than  pewter  and  took  a  good  polish.  But 
the  antimony  present  under  some  circumstances  formed  a 
poisonous  compound,  hence  britannia  was  not  adapted  for 
all  purposes.  The  use  of. pewter  continued.  The  Yales 
devoted  themselves  principally  to  the  making  of  hollow 
ware,  with  a  higher  finish  than  had  hitherto  been  secured 
in  this  country.  The  art  of  electro-plating  was  first  used 
by  James  Elkington  of  London  and  Bimiingham,  England, 

*"Gazetteer",  Pease  and  Niles,  pp.  126,  134.     "History  of  Walling- 
ford and  Meriden",  C.  H.  S.  Davis,  Meriden,  1870,  p.  475. 
f'Hist.  Wallingford",  Davis,  p.  475.     "Mixed  Metals",  Hiorns,  p. 

305- 

t"Hist.  Wallingford",  Davis,  p.  475.  "A  Century  of  Meriden", 
Gillespie,  Pt.  Ill,  p.  38. 

§Same  as  Note  above,  and  "Mixed  Metals",  Hiorns,  p.  313. 
"The  Metallic  Alloys",  Brannt,  pp.  275-281. 


34  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

in  1837.  Shortly  after  this  the  art  was  introduced  into  this 
country*  and  was  used  by  the  Yales  on  their  britannia  ware 
with  very  successful  results,  the  outcome  being  a  largely  in- 
creased demand,  t 

Pewter  could  not  be  rolled,  nor  could  britannia  to  advan- 
tage. Some  rolling  was  attempted,  with  unsatisfactory  re- 
sults. While  the  Yales  introduced  water  power  for  finish- 
ing, the  rough  goods  were  still  in  general  made  by  the  old 
casting  process. 

In  1836,  Robert  Wallace,  who  had  been  employed  by  the 
Yales,  secured  from  an  Englishman  in  New  York,  for  $25,  a 
new  formula.  This  was  an  alloy  of  nickel,  zinc  and  copper, 
in  the  proportion  approximately  of  two  of  copper  to  one  of 
each  of  the  other  metals.  Wallace  secured  small  amounts 
of  the  necessary  metals  and  fused  them  together.J  The 
product  was  sent  to  a  brass  rolling  mill  in  Waterbury  and 
the  first  rolling  of  German  silver  in  this  country  was  the 
result. §     This  was  found  to  be  harder  than  britannia,  was 

♦Before  this  all  silver  plate  and  the  most  of  solid  silverware  had 
been  imported.  Some  silver  ware  had  been  hammered  out  by  hand 
by  local  silversmiths.     "Hist.  Wallingford",  Davis,  p.  477. 

fin  1833  in  Meriden,  which  till  1806  was  a  part  of  Wallingford, 
britannia  wares  were  made  to  the  value  of  $225,000.  See  Bishop, 
"Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Vol.  H,  p.  2,77. 

^'Connecticut  Historical  Collections",  J.  W.  Barber,  2nd.  edition, 
New  Haven,  1837,  p.  227.  "Hist.  Wallingford",  Davis,  pp.  479-480. 
"Mixed  Metals",  Hiorns,  p.  314. 

§It  is  in  dispute  where  German  silver  was  first  rolled.  It  is 
claimed  that  Reed  &  Barton,  a  firm  name  which  survives  to-day  as 
that  of  a  large  establishment  of  Taunton,  Mass.,  first  used  the 
modern  process.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  Wallace  secured  the 
better  formula.  It  is  apparent  that  the  Taunton  and  Wallingford 
men  reached  nearly  the  same  result  at  about  the  same  time,  and 
surely  independently  of  each  other.  "Hist.  Wallingford",  Davis, 
pp.  479-480.     "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  II,  p.  361. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  35 

well  adapted  for  rolling,  took  a  high  polish,  was  apparently- 
durable,  and  was  successfully  used  from  the  first.  The 
rising  brass  industry  found  its  possibilities  enlarged  by  the 
making  and  rolling  of  German  silver  and  to  this  day  this 
has  been  an  important  item  in  the  trade. 

Other  examples  of  the  development  of  household  industry 
into  notable  manufacturing  enterprises  might  be  cited.  The 
making  of  combs,  hats  and  boots  and  shoes  would  be  such. 
Enough,  however,  has  been  given  to  indicate  conditions 
which  obtained  in  several  important  instances. 

When,  then,  about  1800,  as  the  economic  opportunity  open 
to  the  residents  of  the  State  of  Connecticut  seemed  some- 
what less  promising,  many  emigrated  to  the  North  and  West, 
these  undoubtedly  secured  the  larger  immediate  returns.  But 
those  who  remained  in  the  State  and  who  endeavored  by 
their  enterprise,  ingenuity  and  energy  to  enlarge  economic 
opportunity  by  engaging  in  various  industrial  enterprises, 
contributed  most  largely  to  its  development  and  made  possi- 
ble the  high  rank  which  the  State  now  occupies  as  a  manu- 
facturing center. 


CHAPTER  III. 
Beginning  of  the  Brass  Industry  in  Waterbury. 

Early  ventures  in  brass.  Cast  buttons.  First  rolling  of  brass.  Be- 
ginning of  competition.  Improved  machinery  and  processes. 
Rolling  for  market.  Establishment  of  the  industry.  Factory 
system.  Other  ventures.  The  market  in  1820.  Reasons  for 
the  establishment  of  the  industry  in  Waterbury. 

OF  THE  various  household  industries  to  which  the  resi- 
dents of  Connecticut  about  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  devoted  their  energy  and  in- 
genuity, the  most  notable  in  its  development  within  the  State, 
judging  by  its  connection  with  the  brass  industry  of  to-day 
and  the  position  which  this  now  occupies,  was  the  making 
of  metal  buttons.  For  here  is  to  be  found  the  germ  from 
which  the  making  and  the  manufacture  of  brass  has  histori- 
cally developed. 

From  the  earliest  days  there  had  been  some  casting  of 
brass  in  the  colonies.  The  first  attempt  in  this  line  was 
made  by  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  at  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  after 
1644,  at  his  iron  foundry.  There  and  at  Philadelphia  some 
brass  cannon  were  cast  before  the  Revolution.  For  fifty 
years  after  1725  Caspar  Wistar,  his  associates  and  success- 
ors, hammered  out  stills  and  kettles  of  both  brass  and  copper 
in  Philadelphia  and  cast  some  brass  wares.*     The  basis  of 

♦Bishop,  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Vol.  I,  pp.  471-476,  487,  494,  573, 
574.  Twelfth  Census  of  the  U.  S.,  Vol.  IX,  Mfrs.,  Pt.  Ill,  p.  321. 
For  a  later  enterprise,  bell  casting  about  1800,  see  "History  of  New 
Britain,  1640-1889",  D.  N.  Camp,  New  Britain,  1889,  pp.  268-278. 


BRASS  IND  USTR  Y  IN  WA  TERB  UR  Y  37 

these  enterprises  was  the  casting  of  the  metal  and  finishing 
it  by  hand.  Undoubtedly  others,  silversmiths  and  watch- 
makers, made  use  of  some  brass  in  their  handiwork,  but 
these  efforts  were  out  of  connection  with  the  brass  industry 
as  it  actually  developed.* 

Before  1750  John  Allen  had  been  established  as  a  silver- 
smith and  brass  worker  in  Waterbury.  He  made  knee  and 
shoe  buckles,  repaired  watches  and  sold  buttons  of  rolled 
brass  imported  from  England.  At  this  time  buckles  were 
worth  ten  shillings  or  more  a  pair,  and  brass  buttons  two 
shillings  apiece. f  Allen  died  in  1749.  In  1754  Joseph 
Hopkins  began  the  making  of  buckles  and  buttons  of  silver 
and  of  other  metals.|  After  the  Revolution  the  use  of  pew- 
ter became  more  general,  and  the  making  of  pewter  buttons 
was  undertaken  at  several  places. §  For  example  in  Attle- 
borough,  Massachusetts,!  I  as  well  as  at  Philadelphia,  this 
industry  became  established  before  1800. 

In  1790  Henry  Grilley,  who  had  learned  the  process  from 
an  Englishman  in  Boston,  associated  with  his  brothers  Silas 
and  Samuel,  began  the  making  of  pewter  buttons  in  Water- 
bury.  At  this  time  this  was  a  household  industry.  The 
pewter  was  cast  in  a  mould, with  the  eye  in  a  solid  piece  and 
finished  by  hand.     In  1800  the  Grilley s  improved  the  process 

*See  Hamilton's  Report  1791,  and  Gallatin's  Report  1810.  Amer. 
State  Papers,  1832,  Finance,  Vol.  I,  p.  139,  and  Vol.  II,  pp.  426,  429. 

f'Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  I,  p.  371.  At 
this  time  sheet  brass  was  valued  at  sixteen  shillings  a  pound,  and 
copper  ten  shillings  a  pound. 

tThe  same,  Vol.  II,  p.  257. 

§Dr.  Dwight  in  1798  found  the  casting  of  buttons  in  Waterbury. 
"Travels",  Vol.  II,  p.  368.  See  also  "A  Century  of  Meriden",  Gilles- 
pie, Pt.  I,  pp.  353,  359. 

1 1  Bishop,  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Vol.  Ill,  p.  108. 


38  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

by  the  introduction  of  an  eye  of  iron  wire.  Two  years  later 
Abel  Porter  and  his  brother  Levi  came  to  Waterbury  from 
Southington,  and  associating  with  the  Grilleys  under  the 
firm  name  of  Abel  Porter  and  Company  the  manufacture  of 
buttons  from  sheet  brass  was  undertaken.*  Apparently 
this  was  the  first  use  on  this  continent  of  the  modem  method 
of  making  brass  by  the  direct  fusion  of  copper  and  zincf  ac- 
cording to  the  process  invented  by  James  Emerson  in  Eng- 
land in  1781.  This  also  involved  the  first  rolling  of  brass 
in  this  country.^ 

Copper  was  obtained  by  the  purchase  of  old  stills,  kettles, 
ship  sheathing  and  the  like,  zinc  was  added  and  brass  ingots 
were  obtained.  All  the  raw  material  was  imported.  The 
ingots  were  taken  to  an  iron  mill  in  the  town  of  Litchfield, 
where  they  were  roughly  rolled,  and  then  returned  to  Water- 
bury,  where  they  were  finished  by  being  run  between  steel 
rolls  two  inches  in  diameter  driven  by  horse  power.  The 
forms  were  struck  by  dies  from  the  sheet  brass,  concave, 
convex,  round  or  oval ;  the  face  was  gilded  and  the  product 
placed  upon  the  market. 

There  was  a  brisk  demand  for  such  buttons  for  military 
and  other  uniforms.  Up  to  this  time  they  had  practically 
all  been  imported  from  England,  where,  in  Birmingham,  the 

*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  261-264, 
275,  276.     "History  of  Waterbury",  Bronson,  pp.  411,  560. 

fThe  brass  which  was  used  in  the  country  before  this  had  either 
been  imported,  or  made  by  the  fusion  of  copper  and  calamine.  See 
Hamilton's  Report. 

$"Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  440.  "One  Hundred 
Years  of  American  Commerce",  Depew,  Vol.  I,  p.  330.  It  is  claimed 
that  one  James  G.  MoflFet  rolled  brass  in  New  York  City  just  before 
this.  The  power  used  was  a  pair  of  cattle  harnessed  to  a  sweep. 
The  Waterbury  venture  was  probably  the  earlier. 


BRASS  IND  USTR  Y  IN  WA  TERB  UR  Y  39 

manufacture  by  the  casting  process  had  become  established 
before  1700.*  The  American  product  was  of  good  work- 
manship, but  it  was  found  difficult  to  compete  with  the  im- 
ported article  in  finish  and  in  price.f  Many  improvements 
were  made.  In  1815  nine  patents  relating  to  button  making 
were  issued  to  residents  of  the  State. 

The  selling  of  the  product  was  of  the  simplest  character, 
being  sold  at  first  from  house  to  house  until  the  tinware  ped- 
dlers added  them  to  their  stock  in  trade. 

Slowly  the  enterprise  became  established.  In  1806  Levi 
Porter  retired  from  the  business.  Two  years  later  a  skilled 
mechanic  was  secured  from  Attleborough,  where  the  casting 
process  was  still  employed.  A  larger  mill  was  erected  and 
water  power  took  the  place  of  the  horses  which  had  been 
used.  The  next  year  Silas  Grilley  sold  out  his  interest. 
And  in  181 1  a  new  partnership  was  formed,  all  of  the  orig- 
inal proprietors  retiring,  under  the  firm  name  of  Leaven- 
worth, Hayden  &  Scovill.  From  this  has  come  directly 
the  present  corporation,  The  Scovill  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany.$ 

For  twenty  years,  as  far  as  is  known,  this  was  the  only 
sustained  effort  to  roll  brasg  in  the  country.  §     It  was  not 

*Twelfth  Census  of  the  U.  S.,  Vol.  IX,  Mfrs.,  Pt.  Ill,  p.  321. 

fAbout  this  time,  1810,  plain  brass  buttons  sold  as  low  as  80  cents 
a  gross :  when  gilded  or  of  finer  workmanship,  sometimes  as  high  as 
a  dollar  a  dozen. 

fHistory  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  264,  276.  "His- 
tory of  Waterbury",  Bronson,  p.  560.  "Great  Industries  of  the 
U.  S.",  pp.  1 048- 1 054. 

§The  manufacture  of  cast  metal  buttons  persisted  till  after  1820. 
In  1810,  according  to  Tench  Coxe,  Connecticut  produced  four-fifths 
of  the  metal  buttons  of  the  country,  both  processes  being  included 
in  the  returns.     At  this  time  brass  casting  for  other  purposes  was 


40  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

until  1823  that  the  business  had  grown  to  such  proportions 
as  to  engage  attention  and  to  meet  competition.  In  1812 
Aaron  Benedict  had  established  himself  in  the  manufacture 
of  bone  and  ivory  buttons  in  Waterbury.  In  1823  he  as- 
sociated himself  with  four  other  men,  raised  a  capital  of 
$6,500  and  began  the  making  of  rolled  brass  buttons.* 
From  this  venture  has  come  the  Benedict  &  Burnham  Man- 
ufacturing Company,  the  second  of  the  Waterbury  firms 
to  become  established  in  the  brass  industry. 

At  first  Benedict  followed  the  example  of  the  older  firm 
and  had  his  brass  rolled  in  the  iron  mill  at  Litchfield.  The 
larger  capital  at  his  command  was  used  to  organize  the  sale 
of  his  goods.  He  placed  agents  at  New  York  and  at  Phila- 
delphia. But  the  effort  to  extend  the  market  was  not  suc- 
cessful. It  was  difficult  to  compete  with  the  English  goods. 
Before  this  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  secure  skilled 
workmen  from  England.  There  the  old  casting  process  had 
been  set  aside  and  rolled  brass  was  made  and  used.  But  the 
English  manufacturers  endeavored  to  prevent  their  work- 
men from  leaving  the  country,  and  the  first  who  were  se- 
cured from  there  were  hardly  more  efficient  than  the  native 
Americans.  When  Benedict  found  he  could  not  meet  the 
English  prices  in  the  open  market,  his  first  move  was  to 
secure  better  machinery.  In  1824  he  secured  from  England 
rolls  of  much  the  largest  capacity  then  in  the  country ; 
eleven  inches  in  diameter  and  thirty  inches  long.f  He 
tried  to  economize  by  rolling  his  own  brass.     But  still  he 

also  established  in  the  State.  Tench  Coxe,  "Tabular  Statement",  p. 
16.     "Travels  in  N.  Y.  and  N.  E.",  Dwight,  Vol.  IV,  p.  490. 

*"History",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  296,  297.  "History",  Bronson, 
pp.  448,  449.     "History  of  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  442. 

fScientific  American,  May  i,  1880,  Vol.  42,  pp.  277,  278. 


C^VW^^J^-^^Z/      / O  fyi-.-t^'C^^t^^^ 


BRASS  INDUSTRY  IN  WATERBURY  41 

could  not  successfully  compete  with  the  English  makers. 
The  imported  buttons  had  a  color  which  the  Americans  were 
entirely  unable  to  imitate.  Moreover  it  was  understood 
that  the  English  manufacturers  used  six  cents  worth  of 
gold  for  gilding  a  gross,  while  here  three  dollars  worth  was 
required  for  the  same  result.  With  this  handicap  slow 
progress  was  made. 

At  the  same  time  the  Scovills  were  endeavoring  to  better 
conditions.  In  1820  an  agent  of  a  firm  in  Naugatuck  was 
introduced  in  Philadelphia  to  one  James  Croft,  who  pro- 
fessed to  have  lately  come  from  England  and  who  claimed  to 
be  able  to  secure  the  orange  tint  so  much  desired  by  the 
American  manufacturers.  He  said  that  he  had  been  in  the 
employ  of  the  firm  in  Birmingham  whose  goods  had  held  the 
highest  rank  in  the  American  market.  This  information 
was  given  to  one  of  the  partners  in  the  Scovill  firm.  The 
reply  was  received  that  "they  had  tried  English  workmen 
enough."  Mr.  Croft,  however,  came  to  Waterbury  and 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Scovills.  He  soon  proved  that  he 
could  accomplish  all  that  he  claimed.  He  declared  that  the 
machinery  here  in  use  was  much  inferior  to  that  in  England 
and  he  was  sent  thither  to  secure  better.  He  returned  with 
an  expert  toolmaker  and  the  product  of  the  firm  was  vastly 
improved. 

With  the  heavier  machinery  of  Mr.  Benedict  and  the  ser- 
vices of  these  two  skilled  men,  Mr.  Croft  and  the  English 
mechanic,  it  was  found  that  English  competition  could  be 
met  and  the  profits  of  the  manufacture  rapidly  increased. 

It  was  during  this  decade,  from  1820  to  1830,  that  the 
rising  industry  passed  the  experimental  stage.*     By  1830  it 

*0n  April  4,  1827,  the  firm  of  J.  M.  L.  &  W.  H.  Scovill  succeeded 
Leavenworth,  Hayden  &  Scovill.    W.  H.  Scovill  at  this  time  bought 


42  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

was  securely  established  and  the  first  move  to  a  larger  busi- 
ness was  taken.  Up  to  this  time  the  manufacture  of  buttons 
alone  had  been  undertaken.  In  1824  Benedict  began  to  roll 
his  own  brass,  and  in  1829  Scoyill  began  to  roll  his.  Shortly 
after  this  Waterbury  rolled  brass  began  to  come  upon  the 
market.  As  this  extension  of  the  operations  of  these  firms 
from  the  simple  making  of  buttons  to  the  rolling  of  brass 
for  market  marks  a  real  crisis  in  the  industry,  it  will  be  well 
to  consider  the  condition  of  the  trade  at  this  time. 

As  the  manufacture  of  buttons  was  at  this  time  carried  on 
in  Waterbury  it  involved  the  essentials  of  the  factory  sys- 
tem.* The  old  processes  involved  only  the  casting  of  metal 
into  moulds  and  finishing  by  hand,  and  could  be  and  were 
carried  on  as  a  household  industry.  In  Waterbury  machines 
were  used  which  were  unique,  demanded  the  attention  of 
operatives  and  could  not  be  duplicated  for  household  use. 
In  this  respect  this  industry  in  its  organization  differed  from 
that  of  the  textiles.  This  had  been  on  a  factory  basis  both 
in  England  and  to  some  extent  in  this  country.  But  this 
was  but  the  assembling  under  a  simple  organization  of  an 
industry  which  had  long  been  carried  on  in  the  household 
and  at  the  first  with  no  essential  change  in  the  machinery 
used. 

In  Waterbury  the  machinery  demanded  the  use  of  power. 
Horse  power  was  used  at  first;  water  power  after  1808. 

There  was  some  division  of  labor ;  the  rolling  of  the  brass, 

out  his  brother's  partners  and  the  capital  of  the  new  partnership  was 
estimated  at  $20,000.  On  Feb.  2,  1829,  the  partnership  of  Benedict 
&  Coe  was  established  also  with  $20,000  capital,  succeeding  the  older 
firm  established  in  1823  by  A.  Benedict  with  $6,500  capital.  "Town 
and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  II,  pp.  276,  296. 

*"Der  Grossbetrieb",  Leipzig,  1892,  G.  von  Schulze-Gavemitz. 
"Evolution  of  Modern  Capitalism",  J.  A.  Hobson,  Chap.  II-IV. 


BRASS  IND  USTR  Y  IN  WA  TERB  UR Y  43 

operating  of  the  dies  and  stamps  which  cut  out  the  blanks 
and  the  finishing  being  quite  distinct  operations. 

But  it  must  not  be  assumed  that  because  the  essentials  of 
the  factory  system  were  here,  the  plants  were  of  notable 
size.  In  1820  twenty  hands  was  the  maximum  number  of 
employees.* 

Nor  is  it  to  be  assumed  that  in  Waterbury  were  located 
the  only  establishments  in  the  country  using  brass.  Sheet 
copper  and  brass  and  wire  were  imported  from  England,  at 
least  one  New  York  house  making  a  specialty  of  this  trade.f 
From  1801  the  Revere  Copper  Company  in  Canton,  Massa- 
chusetts, has  continuously  rolled  copper.^  And  in  18 13  the 
Soho  Copper  Company,  which  has  also  been  in  continuous 
operation  to  the  present  time,  began  to  roll  copper  at  Belle- 
ville, New  Jersey.  §  The  raw  material  was  at  first  old  ship 
sheathing,  stills,  boilers  and  so  forth,  which  were  collected, 
melted  into  pigs  and  then  rolled.  Some  pig  metal  was  im- 
ported. Until  the  middle  of  the  century  the  only  sources  of 
raw  material  were  either  old  copper  which  had  ultimately 

*See  Digest  of  Mfrs.  ordered  by  Congress,  March  30,  1822. 

fBoth  Hamilton  in  1790  and  Gallatin  in  1810  declare  that  all  copper 
was  imported.  Gallatin  reports  the  Revere  Copper  Co.,  which  he 
says  is  not  prosperous,  a  few  brass  casting  shops  and  unimportant 
manufacture  of  small  wares,  including  buttons. 

JPaul  Revere'  organized  this  company. 

§See  for  these  ventures.  Bishop,  "Hist.  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Vol.  Ill,  pp. 
96,  126,  440.  Scientific  American,  Vol.  41,  Dec.  13,  1879,  p.  380. 
"One  Hundred  Years  of  Amer.  Commerce",  C.  M.  Depew,  article 
by  A.  A.  Cowles,  "Copper  and  Brass",  Vol.  I,  p.  Z33-  The  Soho 
Company  has  been  controlled  by  Hendricks  Brothers  of  New  York, 
a  firm  which  has  been  in  the  metal  trade  for  more  than  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  years.  At  this  mill  there  are  to-day  the  largest  rolls 
for  copper  in  the  country  and  probably  in  the  world,  156  inches  long 
and  30  inches  in  diameter. 


44  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

come  from  abroad,  or  direct  importation  of  new  metal 
either  in  sheet  or  in  pig  form.  All  the  zinc  used  for  making 
brass  was  imported  till  about  1870. 

Rolled  copper  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  then 
used  did  not  require  as  fine  machinery  nor  as  skillful  hand- 
ling as  brass.  Until  after  the  middle  of  the  century  there 
was  no  rolling  of  brass  in  the  country  in  appreciable  amounts 
except  at  Waterbury. 

The  sheet  copper  imported  before  1820  was  used  in  the 
main  for  ship  sheathing;  in  smaller  amounts  copper  and 
brass  were  used  for  the  making  of  stills  and  kettles  and  in 
smaller  amounts  still  in  the  manufacture  of  firearms  and 
small  wares.  Some  old  copper  besides  that  which  was  re- 
rolled,  and  some  imported  pigs,  was  made  into  brass,  which 
together  with  imported  brass  was  used  for  casting  bells, 
cannon  and  andirons.  The  disorganized  character  of  the 
industry  may  well  be  appreciated  as  it  is  noted  that  one  es- 
tablishment in  eastern  Connecticut  reported  in  1820  that  the 
casting  of  andirons  was  carried  on  in  connection  with  the 
making  of  shirtings.* 

The  casting  of  brass  has  called  for  no  peculiar  skill,  other 
than  that  which  may  be  required  for  the  casting  of  other 
metals,  and  has  always  been  widely  carried  on.  This  de- 
partment of  the  manufacture  has  never  been  centralized  in 
Connecticut  in  the  same  degree  as  the  rolling  of  brass  and  its 
manufacture. 

In  the  aggregate,  as  far  as  can  be  determined,  about  150 

♦"Digest  of  Manufactures",   1823.    According  to   the  Report  of 

Sec.   of   State,   1824,   one   establishment  is   returned   as  located   in 

Taunton,  Mass.,  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  copper,  iron,  wool 
and  cotton! 


BRASS  IND  USTR  Y  IN  WA  TERB  UR  Y  45 

to  200  tons  of  copper  and  brass  were  used  annually  in  the 
country  in  1820,  of  which  about  a  sixth  was  consumed  in 
Connecticut.*  The  direct  importations  of  new  metal  would 
not  reach  this  amount,  for  the  same  material  would  be  used 
in  some  cases  several  times  over. 

The  question  may  be  asked  why  the  rolling  of  brass  for 
the  making  of  buttons  was  undertaken  at  Waterbury.  This 
may  be  considered  under  three  specifications. 

I.  There  was  no  intrinsic  reason  why  the  venture  might 
not  here  be  made.  The  amount  of  material  which  was  in- 
volved was  small.  There  were  old  articles  of  copper,  ket- 
tles, stills  or  such,  which  could  be  obtained  almost  anywhere. 
This  was  at  the  start  the  raw  material  which  was  used. 

Moreover  the  weight  of  the  product  was  not  so  large  as 
to  be  a  serious  item  in  the  matter  of  transport.  A  peddler 
could  carry  on  his  back  or  in  the  wagons  of  which  mention 
has  been  made  a  considerable  supply,  with  no  great  incon- 
venience on  account  of  either  the  weight  or  the  bulk.  The 
cost  of  the  transportation  of  a  dozen  buttons  could  hardly 
figure  in  the  selling  price.  At  first  the  product  was  mar- 
keted by  peddlers.  The  first  real  crisis  in  the  early  history 
of  the  enterprise  came  when  after  1823  the  attempt  was 
made  to  meet  the  English  goods  in  the  open  market. 

Plentiful  supplies  of  wood  were  needed  for  the  annealing 
furnaces,  A  single  plant  has  used  in  recent  years  upward  of 
eighteen  thousand  cords.  The  available  supply  of  wood  is 
now  near  the  point  of  exhaustion.  Compelled  by  this  fact 
serious  attempts  are  being  made  to  find  some  satisfactory 
substitute.  To  this  end  coal  and  oil  are  both  being  used. 
But  at  the  beginning  wood  in  sufficient  amount  was  easily 

*"Digest  of  Manufactures",  1823. 


46  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

secured  near  Waterbury.  However,  this  condition  was  not 
peculiar  to  this  single  locality. 

Power  was  needed,  but  at  the  start  the  amount  required 
was  not  large.  Water  power  was  used  after  1808,  and 
Waterbury  is  tolerably  well  supplied  with  streams  which 
could  be  used.*  But  so  were  many  other  towns.  Indeed 
the  valley  of  the  Housatonic  River,  but  a  few  miles  west  of 
the  Naugatuck,  contains  available  sites  and  a  much  larger 
amount  of  available  water  power.  Even  the  Naugatuck 
affords  many  much  better  power  sites  than  Waterbury. 

11.  The  reason  why  the  industry  was  started  at  Water- 
bury seems  to  be  that  this  was  the  residence  of  the  pioneers. 
This  settlement  seems  to  have  been  peculiarly  confined  in 
its  economic  possibility.  Just  here  the  soil  was  poor.  The 
few  good  farms  were  all  occupied.  Conditions  made  it 
necessary  for  the  rising  generation  to  leave,  starve  or  en- 
gage in  some  other  industrial  venture.  Many  left,  some 
remained  in  poverty,  a  few  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
present  brass  industry. 

Waterbury  was  the  home  of  the  Grilleys  who  had  cast 
pewter  buttons  before  1800,  of  the  Porters  who  with  them 
first  used  rolled  brass,  of  the  Scovills  who  succeeded  them, 
and  of  Aaron  Benedict  and  Israel  Coe  who  first  entered  into 
competition  with  them.  Indeed  of  those  who  before  1830 
were  at  all  prominent  in  the  trade  there  was  but  one  out- 
sider, David  Hay  den,  who  in  1808  came  to  Waterbury  from 
Attleborough,  where  he  had  been  interested  in  the  making  of 
cast  buttons.  Mr.  Hayden  seems  to  have  been  the  only  one 
of  prominence  who  was  before  1830  attracted  from  a  perma- 
nent settlement  elsewhere  to  Waterbury  because  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  rising  industry  there. 

*The  Naugatuck  and  Mad  Rivers  afforded  sufficient  power. 


^f^f^i'^J.^^ 


BRASS  IND USTR Y  IN  WA  TERB URY  47 

III.  These  men  working  at  their  homes,  under  conditions 
which  were  not  unfavorable,  brought  to  the  venture  suffi- 
cient enterprise  and  perseverance  to  continue  in  the  under- 
taking until  they  were  able  to  see  the  need  and  to  command 
the  assistance  of  English  machinery  and  English  skill. 

It  was  this  enterprise  and  continued  perseverance  which 
enabled  these  men  in  Waterbury  finally  to  overcome  English 
competition  and  to  furnish  a  home  product  in  response  to  a 
home  demand.  At  the  start  no  such  outcome  could  have  been 
predicted.  It  took  a  year  and  a  half  for  the  original  enter- 
prise to  get  fairly  started.  This  new  venture  might  easily 
have  gone  the  way  of  many  another  and  have  died  an  un- 
timely death.  That  success  was  by  no  means  assured  at  the 
start  is  apparent  from  two  facts : 

First :  Those  who  started  the  enterprise  after  a  few  years 
abandoned  it  to  their  successors.  The  original  undertakers 
began  to  drop  out  after  four  years  and  at  the  end  of  nine 
years  none  of  them  were  left.  It  was  the  second  generation 
which  carried  the  business  through  to  a  successful  end. 

Second :  The  observations  of  visitors  were  almost  without 
exception  unfavorable  to  the  inauguration  of  new  manu- 
facturing enterprises.  Two  quotations  will  suffice,  both  by 
Englishmen. 

In  1794  it  was  remarked  by  Thomas  Cooper  that  as  a  result 
of  a  six  months  stay  in  America  it  was  his  opinion  that  there 
was  some  demand  for  itinerant  tradesmen  such  as  silver- 
smiths and  watchmakers,  that  a  brass  founder,  meaning  a 
caster  of  brass,  might  find  employment,  together  with  iron 
workers,  carpenters  and  masons ;  but  while  "land  is  so  cheap 
and  labor  is  so  dear,  it  will  be  too  hazardous  a  speculation 
to  embark  a  capital  in  any  branch  of  manufacture  which  has 
not  hitherto  been  actually  pursued  with  success  in  this  coun- 


48  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

try."  And  he  adds  in  a  note,  "while  America  and  England 
are  at  peace  there  will  be  little  or  no  temptation  to  set  up 
manufactures  in  the  former  country."* 

And  Lord  Sheffield  in  his  observations  on  the  commerce 
of  the  American  states  expressed  the  confidence  of  the  Eng- 
lish manufacturers,  as  he  declared  that  manufactures  of  iron 
and  steel  would  be  supplied  for  long  by  England.  Tin 
plates  and  copper  in  sheets  to  be  wrought  into  kitchen  and 
other  utensils  "can  be  had  only  from  Great  Britain  to  any  ad- 
vantage, "f  As  for  buttons,  the  possibility  of  any  venture  in 
such  manufacture  is  disdainfully  set  aside  with  the  remark 
that  "this  will  be  one  of  the  last  manufactures  which  it  will 
be  worth  the  while  of  the  Americans  to  attempt.''^ 

*"Some  Information  Respecting  America",  Thos.  Cooper,  Dublin, 

1794,  pp.  I,  59- 

fObservations  on  the  Commerce  of  the  American  States",  John 
Lord  Sheffield,  London,  1804,  p.  29. 

|The  same,  p.  25. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Growth  and  Development. 

The  market  in  1832.  A  new  firm.  Manufacturing  the  product  of 
the  rolling  mills ;  butts,  kettles.  Extension  of  the  industry.  Be- 
ginning in  Wolcottville,  Derby  and  Ansonia.  Rolling  copper. 
Pins.  Photographic  plates.  New  plants.  Reasons  for  the 
localization  and  success  of  the  industry;  enterprise  of  the 
pioneers,  labor  conditions,  the  tariff. 

DURING  the  ten  years  from  1820  to  1830  the  two  firms 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  rolled  brass  buttons 
became  established.  In  1820  a  liberal  estimate  of 
the  capital  of  Leavenworth,  Hayden  &  Scovill  would  be 
$5,000.  In  1830  each  of  the  two  firms  then  in  the  business 
commanded  a  capital  of  $20,000,  the  most  of  which  repre- 
sented profits.  A  real  beginning  had  been  made.  But  dur- 
ing this  same  decade  all  branches  of  manufacturing  in  the 
country  experienced  something  of  the  same  expansion.  We 
have  in  hand  certain  statistics  relating  to  the  manufactures 
of  the  United  States  collected  in  accordance  with  a  resolu- 
tion adopted  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  January  19, 
1832.*  While  these  returns  are  quite  incomplete,  yet  they 
are  the  most  satisfactory  in  those  sections  where  manufac- 
turing was  most  highly  developed.  From  these  returns  sup- 
plemented by  other  investigations  it  appears  that  since  1820 

^Executive  Document  No.  308,  22nd.  Cong.,  ist  Session,  2  Vols., 
Washington,  1833.  Returns  are  quite  complete  for  Mass.  and  Conn, 
and  less  so  for  other  States.  The  reports  are  only  from  N.  E.,  N.  Y., 
N.  J.,  Penn.  and  Del.,  with  some  scattering  returns  from  Ohio  and 
other  States. 


60  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

the  consumption  of  brass  and  copper  had  more  than  doubled, 
being  at  this  time  perhaps  500  tons.*  It  is  impossible  ac- 
curately to  separate  the  copper  from  the  brass,  but  the 
amount  of  brass  may  have  been  50  to  60  tons. 

Four-fifths  of  the  copper  was  used  for  ship  sheathing  and 
for  bolts  and  nails,  also  in  the  main  used  in  ship  building. 
More  than  three-quarters  of  the  remainder  was  consumed 
for  various  castings.  The  principal  products  were  bells, 
kettles  and  andirons.  For  some  of  these  products  the  cop- 
per was  mixed  variously  with  other  metals;  tin,  lead,  anti- 
mony, nickel  and  zinc.  Of  the  balance,  aggregating  not 
more  than  twenty  tons,  the  largest  demand  was  for  litho- 
graphic plates,  then  came  stills,  engine  parts,  tin  shops  and 
small  hardware. 

Brass  was  widely  used,  in  the  main  in  small  quantities. 
For  casting  the  alloy  was  usually  compounded  by  the 
founder.  There  was  a  demand  in  the  market  for  some  thirty 
tons  of  sheet  brass  and  twenty  tons  of  wire.  The  sheet 
metal  was  used  in  the  making  of  stills  and  in  tin  shops ;  also 
for  clocks,  plated  ware,  fire  engines  and  some  lithographs. 
Brass  wire  was  used  in  the  manufacture  of  cards,  brushes, 
cages  and  machinery.  At  this  time  brass  kettles  in  the  main 
were  cast;  copper  kettles  were  hammered  from  sheet  metal 
as  well  as  were  cast.  The  more  of  alloy  there  was  present 
the  greater  the  difficulty  in  hammering  them  into  shape.  All 
of  the  wire  and  all  but  about  ten  per  cent,  of  the  sheet  metal 
was  imported 

Sixty  per  cent,  of  the  copper  was  imported  in  the  form  in 
which  it  was  used.  Forty  per  cent,  of  the  raw  material  was 
obtained  by  rolling  imported  pig  copper  and  by  working  over 
old  material.     There  was  a  refinery  for  old  copper  at  Taun- 

*See  pp.  44,  45. 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  61 

ton,  Massachusetts,  and  the  rolling  mills  already  referred  to 
at  Canton  and  at  Belleville*  were  in  active  operation. 

The  only  record  of  the  use  of  domestic  sheet  brass  is  by 
certain  manufacturers  in  Boston,  who  used  perhaps  three 
tons  of  Waterbury  brass  in  the  making  of  kettles,  fire  en- 
gines, grates  and  fenders  and  for  silver  plating.f 

This  was  the  dernand  which  the  Waterbury  men  under- 
took to  supply  after  providing  for  their  own  needs.  To-day 
it  seems  to  be  a  very  limited  demand,  but  the  brass  industry 
is  as  it  is  to-day  because  the  Waterbury  men  undertook  to 
supply  the  market  and  finally  succeeded  in  their  undertaking. 
A  confirmation  of  the  result  already  reached  is  found  in  the 
fact  that  on  one  occasion  about  this  time  when  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Housatonic  River  to  Derby  was  impeded  by  ice, 
three  four-horse  teams  were  dispatched  to  New  York  in 
order  to  secure  metal  to  keep  the  mills  in  operation. 

The  price  of  sheet  copper  at  this  time  was  from  seventeen 
to  thirty  cents  a  pound ;  of  sheet  brass  from  sixty  to  eighty 
cents ;  of  brass  wire  from  forty  to  seventy  cents.  All 
through  this  period,  down  to  1850,  the  margin  of  profit  was 
large.  The  raw  material  cost  for  a  pound  of  sheet  brass 
from  sixteen  to  twenty  cents,  and  the  labor  about  eight 
cents;  while  the  product  delivered  at  the  market  sold  as 
high  as  seventy-five  cents. 

The  margin  of  rolled  brass  above  their  own  needs  which 
the  two  existing  concerns  in  Waterbury  could  put  upon  the 
market  was  small.  Believing  that  a  profitable  business  could 
be  established,  in  1830  a  new  firm  was  organized,  intending 
to  roll  metal  and  to  draw  wire  exclusively  for  market.  Israel 

*See  p.  43. 

fThis  was  rolled  plate.  Electro-plate  did  not  come  in  till  after 
1837. 


62  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

Holmes,  who  had  been  in  the  employ  of  the  Scovills 
and  who  started  more  new  enterprises  in  the  working  of 
brass  than  any  other  individual,  associated  seven  other  men 
with  himself,  raising  a  capital  of  $8,000,*  and  began  the 
manufacture  of  sheet  metal  and  wire  for  the  market.  The 
first  firm  title  was  Holmes  &  Hotchkiss.  The  venture 
was  not  immediately  successful.  Within  eight  years  several 
changes  were  made  in  the  partnership.  In  1838  the  name 
was  fixed  as  Brown  &  Elton,  which  was  continued  until 
1856,  when  the  partnership  was  dissolved. 

The  prosperity  of  this  new  firm  was  entirely  dependent 
upon  machinery  and  workmen  whom  Mr.  Holmes  in  1831 
secured  from  Birmingham,  England.  He  secured  three  sets 
of  rolls  and  six  wire  blocks ;  and  a  caster,  roller,  wire-drawer 
and  tube  maker.f  This  was  the  first  eflfort  to  draw  wirej 
and  to  make  tubing  in  this  country. 

After  the  advent  of  this  third  firm  in  Waterbury  it  was 
possible  to  produce  sheet  brass  and  wire  in  much  larger 
quantity  than  the  open  market  could  absorb.  It  was 
difficult  to  compete  with  the  imported  product.  The  manu- 
facturers were  driven  to  the  task  of  working  up  their  own 
product.  Up  to  this  time  the  making  of  metal  buttons  had 
furnished  the  only  local  demand  for  sheet  brass.  Now, 
however,  was  called  into  active  operation  the  enterprise, 
which  having  established  in  Waterbury  the  first  rolling  of 
brass,  determined  that  the  industry  should  be  here  localized. 

Holmes    &    Hotchkiss    began    the    making    of    brazed 

*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  319,  329. 

f'Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  323. 

tA  good  description  of  the  technique  of  wire  drawing  may  be 
found  in  Scientific  American  Supplement,  Jan.  19,  1907,  Vol.  63,  p.  25, 
950. 


(Md^(S. 


a^(yu/y\j 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  53 

tubing.  This  was  made  of  sheet  metal,  brazed  at  the  joint. 
After  1836  such  tubing  was  used  for  interior  work  for  gas, 
first  by  the  New  York  Gas  Company.  This  firm  also 
attempted  to  supply  the  domestic  demand  for  brass  wire.  At 
this  time  twelve  or  fourteen  tons  of  wire  was  a  six  months' 
supply  and  it  was  all  imported.*  It  was  not  easy  to  secure 
the  market.  However,  gradually  this  was  accomplished  and 
in  1835  twenty-five  hands  were  employed  in  this  department 
alone.f  At  this  time  no  local  competition  had  developed. 
In  1836  this  new  firm  began  the  manufacture  01  hooks  and 
eyes,  the  first  successful  attempt  in  this  country.^ 

In  1810  hooks  and  eyes  had  cost  $1.50  a  gross.§  Attracted 
by  the  possibility  of  large  profit  some  attempt  had  been  made 
to  manufacture  them  of  imported  wire ;  but  owing  to  a  lack 
of  skill  this  was  shortly  abandoned.  When  Holmes  & 
Hotchkiss  found  a  surplus  of  wire  on  their  hands  they  un- 
dertook this  manufacture,  and  for  some  years  they  were  the 
only  ones  to  use  domestic  wire  for  this  purpose,  1 1  Shortly 
after  this,  in  1842,  the  company  took  up  the  making  of  pins. 

Another  new  undertaking  at  this  time  was  the  making  of 
brass  butts.  These  had  formerly  been  cast  of  iron  as  well 
as  of  brass.  The  manufacture  had  been  established  in,  Troy, 
New  York,  before  i830.j[  About  1835,  Benedict  &  Burn- 
ham,  who  in  the  previous  year  had  succeeded  Benedict  & 
Coe,  made  butts  of  rolled  brass  at  a  cost  and  with  a  finish 
which  easily  rivalled  those  made  of  cast  metal.     At  this  time 

*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  262. 
fThe  same,  Vol.  II,  p.  243. 
f'History  of  Waterbury",  Bronson,  p.  561. 
§"History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  427. 
||In  1845  the  only  manufacture  of  hooks  and  eyes  which  was  re- 
turned was  in  Conn.     Sen.  Doc.  444,  July  23,  1846. 
If'History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  349. 


M  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

there  was  an  active  trade  in  imported  butts.*  In  1836  the 
Scovills  took  up  this  manufacture  and  the  local  market  was 
gained. 

At  about  this  time,  as  has  already  been  noticed,  the  inven- 
tion of  the  rolled  brass  clock  created  an  active  demand  for 
sheet  brass.f  Also  the  rolling  of  German  silver  was  intro- 
duced.:!: 

Two  other  ventures  also  were  made  at  about  this  time, 
which  for  different  reasons  had  a  large  place  in  the  subse- 
quent histo'ry  of  the  trade.  The  result  was  to  add  two  new 
plants  to  the  industry. 

In  1834  Mr.  Israel  Coe  left  his  partnership  with  Mr.  Bene- 
dict and  associated  himself  with  Mr.  Anson  G.  Phelps  of 
New  York  and  Mr.  John  Hungerford,  shortly  including  Mr. 
Holmes,  who  sold  out  his  interest  in  Holmes  &  Hotchkiss, 
and  organized  a  new  industry  in  what  was  then  Wolcottville, 
now  Torrington.  Here  the  making  of  brass  kettles  was  un- 
dertaken, by  the  battery  process,  so-called. §  The  kettles 
were  hammered  into  shape  from  blanks.  Before  this  brass 
kettles  had  been  cast.  At  first  imported  cast  blanks  were 
used.  Then  the  attempt  was  made  to  cast  blanks,  then  to 
use  sheet  brass.  But  the  right  mixture  of  the  metal  was  not 
discovered,  nor  was  an  annealing  process  which  was  satis- 
factory found.  The  metal  cracked  badly  under  the  ham- 
mers. The  hammer  was  a  long  wooden  beam  shod  with  iron. 
The  noise  of  the  shop  was  said  to  have  been  deafening,  the 

*Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  388. 

tSee  page  32. 

JSee  page  34. 

§"History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  388.  "History  of  Tor- 
rington, Conn.",  Orcutt,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  1878,  pp.  101-104.  This  new 
mill  also  rolled  metal  for  a  button  factory  near  by  which  was  started 
about  the  same  time. 


y/A^^^^^^^^^--^  ^/^rr^f't^ 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  65 

workmen  filling  their  ears  with  cotton.  At  first  it  was 
thought  that  the  difficulty  arising  from  the  cracking  of  the 
metal  was  due  to  defective  skill  on  the  part  of  the  workmen 
and  a  number  of  skilled  men  were  imported  from  England.* 
These  proved  to  be  but  indifferent  workmen  and  still  the 
product  was  not  satisfactory.  The  new  concern  but  barely 
weathered  the  financial  storm  of  1837.  In  1842  Mr.  Coe 
visited  the  only  two  establishments  in  Europe  using  this 
processf  and  secured  the  right  mixture  and  the  proper  an- 
nealing process.  Immediately  the  product  was  vastly  im- 
proved and  for  several  years  the  concern  was  very  prosper- 
ous. 

In  1 85 1  Mr.  H.  W.  Hayden,  then  in  the  employ  of  the 
Scovills,  invented  the  process  still  in  use  of  forming  kettles 
by  spinning  and  turning^  and  the  Wolcottville  concern 
found  its  business  practically  gone.  Before  this  time  his  as- 
sociates had  one  by  one  become  interested  in  other  enter- 
prises and  the  control  of  the  plant  had  passed  to  Mr. 
Hungerford.  Later  the  workmen  were  hired  away  by 
another  concern  in  Ansonia.  In  1863,  after  being  practi- 
cally idle  for  several  years,  the  mills  were  sold  and  the  men 
who  organized  the  Coe  Brass  Company  took  charge  of  the 
plant  and  achieved  large  success  in  drawing  wire  and  the 
rolling  of  German  silver,  brass  and  copper. 

The  other  venture  had  an  even  larger  effect  upon  present 
conditions.     It  marks  the  introduction  of  a  new  factor  in 

*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  324-  See 
page  90. 

fAnderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  302. 

tin  this  process  a  blank  of  metal  is  securely  fastened  to  a  die, 
which  is  then  made  to  rotate.  A  tool  is  then  pressed  against  the 
metal,  which  is  thus  shaped  to  the  die.  The  patent  was  dated  Dec 
16,  1851. 


66  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

the  industry.  Up  to  this  time  each  new  departure  had  been 
taken  by  those  already  identified  with  the  existing  mills. 
Mr.  Anson  G.  Phelps  was  an  importer  of  tin,  brass  and  cop- 
per in  New  York,  and  hence  was  in  closer  touch  with  the 
domestic  market  than  the  Waterbury  men.  In  1834  he  had 
become  interested  in  the  Wolcottville  venture  and  in  1836  he, 
associated  with  some  other  men,  built  a  mill  for  the  rolling 
of  copper  at  Derby.* 

Derby  was  an  old  settlement  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Naug- 
atuck  River  where  it  joins  the  Housatonic.  Before  1812  it 
had  been  the  port  of  entry  for  the  lower  Naugatuck  Valley 
and  it  had  enjoyed  a  profitable  shipping  trade.  It  lies  at 
the  head  of  the  navigation  of  the  Housatonic,  seventeen 
miles  below  Waterbury. 

Mr.  Phelps  had  made  a  large  fortune  in  the  import  trade 
and  had  considerable  capital  at  his  command.  He  felt  that 
he  could  successfully  compete  with  the  mills  up  the  Valley. 
Smith  &  Phelps,  as  the  partnership  was  called,  located  their 
plant  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Naugatuck;  calling  the  new 
settlement  Birmingham,  after  the  famous  English  center. 
The  panic  of  1837  broke  just  as  the  enterprise  was  getting 
started,  but  from  the  first  the  new  plant  was  successful. 
Workmen  and  machinery  were  secured  from  England  and 
men  were  hired  in  Wolcottville  and  Waterbury.  The  new 
mill  made  a  specialty  of  copper  sheets  and  wire  and  this 
manufacture  was  largely  drawn  hither.  In  1838  the  mill 
was  burnt,  being  immediately  rebuilt. 

Mr.  Phelps,  encouraged  by  the  success  of  his  venture, 
thought  to  organize  a  large  manufacturing  community  at 
Birmingham  and  to  this  end  sought  to  secure  control  of  the 

♦"History  of  the  Old  Town  of  Derby",  Orcutt  and  Beardsley,  pp. 
349,  414-416. 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  57 

surrounding  land.     This  project  was  arrested,  as  a  man,! 
learning  of  the  plan,  bought  a  farm  which  was  considered  es- 
sential to  its  accomplishment  and  raised  the  price  of  it  from 
$5,000  to  $30,000.     This  Mr.  Phelps  refused  to  pay  and  went 
two  miles  up  the  river  where  he  founded  Ansonia,  which  ( 
was  so  called  from  Mr.  Phelps'  given  name.*    In  1844  a  roll- 
ing mill  was  here  constructed.     Later,  as  the  Wolcottville  ^ 
Brass  Company  lost  its  command  of  the  market  for  brass 
kettles,  Mr.  Phelps  secured  the  most  of  its  skilled  labor,  and 
in  1854  the  Derby  mill  was  abandoned  and  the  Ansonia  Brass 
and  Copper  Company  was  organized,f  which  has  come  to  be 
one  of  the  largest  establishments  in  the  trade. 

The  success  of  Mr.  Phelps'  venture  definitely  added  the 
handling  of  copper  to  the  already  established  brass  busi- 
Tiess.$  His  enterprise  also  added  a  new  branch  of  manu- 
facture to  the  rising  industry,  namely,  the  making  of  pins 
from  brass  wire. 

The  story  of  pins  is  one  which  well  illustrates  the  progress 
of  the  nineteenth  century  and  the  ingenuity  of  the  American 
inventor.  From  the  thorn  of  the  thicket  and  the  wooden 
skewer  to  the  modern  pin  of  iron  or  of  brass  wire  is  a  long 
step.     The  Romans  used  hand  made  pins  of  bronze,  of 

♦"History  of  the  Old  Town  of  Derby",  Orcutt  and  Beardsley,  pp. 
416-417. 

fThis  company  was  efficiently  managed  from  the  first.  It  had 
sufficient  capital  at  its  command.  Mr.  George  P.  Cowles  was  the 
resident  executive  head.  He  had  been  in  the  employ  of  the  Wol- 
cottville  Brass  Co.  Mr.  Phelps  induced  him  to  come  to  Ansonia  in 
1848.  From  1869  to  his  death  in  1887  he  was  Vice-President  of  the 
company.  His  enterprise  and  ability  was  a  large  factor  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  company. 

^''Connecticut  Historical  Collections",  J.  W.  Barber,  2nd.  edition, 
1837,  p.  198. 


68  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

which  some  have  been  found.  The  first  brass  pins  of  Eng- 
land of  record  were  imported  from  France  in  the  days  of 
Henry  VIII.*  Shortly  thereafter  the  manufacture  of  pins 
was  undertaken  in  England.  The  greatest  advance  which 
was  made  until  1800  was  in  the  perfection  of  a  wire  wound 
head.  This  sometimes  worked  loose,  to  the  injury  of  the 
user's  fingers.  Adam  Smith  in  his  "Wealth  of  Nations"t 
illustrates  from  this  manufacture  the  advantage  of  the  divi- 
sion of  labor.  At  this  time  the  head  was  made  separately 
and  the  making  of  the  pin  required  eighteen  separate  opera- 
tions. Ten  persons  could  make  48,000  pins  a  day.J  After 
1800  various  improvements  were  made  and  a  solid  headed 
pin  was  perfected  in  England. 

In  this  country  in  the  colonial  days  pins  were  imported 
and  were  very  costly.  One  of  the  items  in  the  inventory  of 
an  estate  filed  in  Waterbury  in  1749^  in  company  with  wear- 
ing apparel,  breeches,  coats,  knives  and  a  razor,  is  a  "paper 
of  pinns."§  In  1775  the  provincial  assembly  of  North  Caro- 
lina offered  a  bounty  of  £50  for  the  first  twenty-five  dozen 
pins  of  domestic  manufacture  equal  to  those  imported  from 
England.  1 1  At  this  time  pins  cost  seven  shillings,  sixpence 
a  dozen.     After  1812  pins  sold    at    a    dollar  a  package.^ 

*The  cost  of  pins  and  their  usefulness  gave  form  and  meaning  to 
the  phrase  "pin  money",  designating  the  sum  allowed  a  wife  by  her 
husband  for  the  purchase  of  these  necessary  articles. 

f'Wealth  of  Nations",  Book  I,  Chap.  I. 

JWilliam  Cowper  (died  1800)  in  a  short  poem  entitled  "An 
Enigma",  and  beginning  "A  needle,  small  as  small  can  be",  tells  of  the 
making  of  a  pin.  At  that  time  seven  workmen  united  in  the  manu- 
facture of  the  product,  and  the  head  was  made  separately. 

§"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  I,  p.  371. 

ll'The  Great  Industries  of  the  United  States",  p.  1287. 

i["History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  184.  12th  Census  of 
U.  S.,  1900,  Mfrs.  Pt.  IV,  Vol.  X,  pp.  427-429. 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  69 

About  this  time  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to 
make  pins  here.*  Various  other  efforts  to  introduce  this 
manufacture  into  this  country  were  made,  but  until  after 
1830  all  pins  were  imported. 

In  183 1  Dr.  J.  I.  Howe  of  New  York  invented  a  pin-making 
machine  which  was  successfully  operated.f  He  made  im- 
provements in  1832,  1833,  1838  and  in  1841.  In  this  last 
year  the  solid  headed  pin  was  perfected.  The  earlier 
machines  had  used  the  wire  wound  head.J  At  the  same 
time  other  inventors  were  at  work  and  two  other  ventures 
proved  to  be  successful.  By  1840  Slocum  &  Jillson  in 
Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  and  the  Fowler  Brothers  in 
Northford,  Connecticut,  were  making  pins  for  the  market. 
The  Fowler  machine  proved  to  be  in  some  respects  superior 
to  the  Howe  machine. 

The  next  improvement  was  the  machine  for  sticking  the 
pins  on  paper.  The  high  labor  cost  made  improvement 
necessary.  Slocum  &  Jillson  and  Dr.  Howe  together  per- 
fected a  sticking  machine. §  This  gave  these  makers  a  dis- 
tinct advantage  over  the  Fowlers,  notwithstanding  their  bet- 
ter machine  for  making  the  pins. 

In  1838  the  Howe  Manufacturing  Company,  which  had 
been  organized  in  New  York  in  1835,  was  located  in  Derby, 
under  the  influence  of  Mr.  Phelps.  1 1     This  company  con- 

*Twelfth  Census  of  U.  S.,  1900,  Mfrs.  Pt.  II,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  79. 

fA  story  of  the  life  and  work  of  Dr.  Howe  is  given  in  "Hist. 
Amer.  Mfrs.",  Vol.  II,  pp.  563-566.  See  also  for  several  items,  "Re- 
port of  Commissioner  of  Patents  for  the  year  1850",  House  Ex.  Doc. 
No.  32,  Thirty-first  Congress,  Second  Session,  pp.  412-414. 

^"History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  395. 

§"History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  478. 

||"History  of  the  Old  Town  of  Derby",  Orcutt  and  Beardsley,  p.  366. 
"History  of  New  Haven  County",  Rockey,  Vol.  II,  p.  ^gs.  "History 
Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  415. 


60  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

tinued  in  business  in  Derby  until  1908,  when  the  plant  and 
good-will  were  purchased  by  the  Plume  &  Atwood  Company 
of  Waterbury. 

At  about  this  same  time  the  enterprise  of  the  Waterbury 
men  appeared  in  this  connection.*  In  1842  Brown  &  Elton 
purchased  the  business  of  the  Fowlers  at  Northford  and 
moved  the  machinery  to  Waterbury.  They  also  bought  a 
third  interest  in  Slocum  &  Jillson  and  made  an  arrangement 
with  Dr.  Howe  for  the  use  of  his  patent  in  connection  with 
the  sticking  machine  and  began  the  making  of  pins.  In 
1846  Brown  &  Elton  with  Benedict  &  Burnham  organized 
the  American  Pin  Company,  bought  the  rest  of  the  business 
of  Slocum  &  Jillson  and  removed  the  machinery  to  Water- 
bury. This  gave  the  control  of  the  effective  pin-making 
machines  and  the  sticking  device  to  the  American  Pin  Com- 
pany and  the  Howe  ]\Ianufacturing  Company. 

It  was  the  sticking  device  which  was  the  deciding  factor 
in  the  control  of  the  American  market.  In  England  pins 
were  still  stuck  upon  the  papers  for  market  by  hand. 

Induced  by  the  large  profit  which  was  secured  by  the 
earlier  manufacturers  many  others  attempted  the  making  of 
pins,  but  in  a  few  years  these  had  all  disappeared.  In  1848 
there  were  only  two  companies  in  existence,  the  Howe  Man- 
ufacturing Company  and  the  American  Pin  Company.  As 
long  as  their  patent  rights  continued  these  controlled  the 
American  market. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  from  the  census  returns  the  measure 
of  the  control  of  this  manufacture  which  still  abides  in  Con- 
necticut, for  since  i860  the  manufacture  of  pins  and  needles 

*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  320,  366- 
368.     "History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  439. 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  61 

is  given  under  one  head,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they 
are  made  of  different  materials  and  by  different  processes 
and  in  many  cases  by  different  firms.  In  1845  ^"^  in  1850 
the  only  returns  for  the  making  of  pins  are  from  Connecti- 
cut. In  i860  75%  of  all  pins  as  returned  are  from  this 
State.*  And  according  to  the  latest  returns  64%  of  the  na- 
tional product  of  needles  and  pins  is  also  from  Connecticut. 

The  three  establishments  in  Waterbury,  the  Scovills, 
Benedict  &  Burnham  and  Brown  &  Elton,  with  the  Wolcott- 
ville  concern  and  the  Derby  mill,  were  the  only  ventures  in 
the  brass  industry  before  1840.  It  is  believed  that  at  this 
time  they  were  the  only  establishments  in  the  country  de- 
voted to  the  mixing  and  the  working  of  sheet  brass. 

The  panic  of  1837  broke  just  as  the  three  newer  concerns 
were  getting  started,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  large  profits 
secured  in  the  industry  it  would  have  been  impossible  for 
them  to  have  continued  in  operation.  The  increased  de- 
mand, due  largely  to  Mr.  Jerome's  clock  and  the  control  of 
the  business,  led  to  rapid  recovery  when  once  the  crisis  had 
been  passed.  After  1840  a  season  of  large  prosperity  was 
entered  upon.  The  demand  broadened  considerably.  The 
manufacturing  ventures  were  increasingly  successful  and 
the  next  decade  was  relatively  the  most  prosperous  of  any 
until  1880. 

Shortly  after  1840  another  industry  calling  for  the  prod- 
uct of  the  brass  mills  came  into  being  and  this  also  was 
undertaken  by  the  mills  themselves  in  the  effort  to  work  up 
their  product.  The  invention  of  Daguerre  in  the  realm  of 
photography  in  1839  was  at  first  applied  to  silver  plates. 

*See  Senate  Doc.  444,  July  23,  1846,  and  census  returns  for  dates 
as  given. 


62  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

Soon,  however,  it  was  found  that  copper  plated  with  silver* 
answered  the  purpose  and  in  1842  the  Scovill  Company  un- 
dertook to  supply  this  demand-f  From  the  first  the  venture 
was  successful.  Plates  considered  better  than  the  English 
and  nearly  as  good  as  the  French  were  placed  in  large 
quantities  upon  the  market.  Other  manufacturers  followed 
this  exampleif:  and  for  many  years  the  making  of  photo- 
graphic plates  was  an  important  item  in  the  trade.  Many 
other  uses  were  found  for  copper  and  brass  in  the  business 
of  the  photograph  galleries  and  the  brass  mills  made  it  their 
business  to  supply  the  demand. 

The  expanding  trade  and  the  large  profits  secured  en- 
couraged competition  and  during  the  next  few  years  sev- 
'eral  new  plants  were  located. 

The  first  new  concern  to  roll  brass  was  the  Waterbury 
Brass  Company.  §  The  first  step  in  the  organization  of  this 
company  was  taken  by  a  man  who  owned  a  mill  privilege  on 
the  Mad  River.  He  enlisted  the  interest  of  capitalists,  in- 
cluding Mr.  Elton  of  Brown  &  Elton ;  and  Mr.  Holmes  was 
induced  to  sever  his  connection  with  the  Wolcottville  com- 
pany and  to  assume  the  presidency  of  the  new  concern.  In 
1846  the  first  mill  was  built,  the  largest  at  that  date  in  the 
country.  In  1852  this  company  bought  of  Mr.  Hayden  his 
newly  invented  spinning  process  and  proceeded  to  com- 
mand the  manufacture  of  brass  kettles  in  the  country.  The 
success  of  the  new  company  as  well  as  its  rapid  growth  is 

*The  first  copper-silver  photographic  plates  wer^  of  rolled  plate. 
A  thin  sheet  of  silver  was  fused  to  a  copper  ingot,  and  rolled  down 
together.     Later  the  silver  was  applied  by  the  electro-plating  process. 

f'Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  277. 
"History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  441. 

JSee  page  65. 

§"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  332,  333, 


<^-  (-^-"^^^^^-YT—i--^^- 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  63 

indicated  by  the  increase  of  its  capital  stock.  At  the  begin- 
ning this  was  $40,000,  increased  the  same  year  to  $50,000; 
in  1848  this  was  $75,000;  in  1850,  $104,000;  in  1852,  $208,- 
000;  in  1853,  $250,000;  in  1857,  $300,000;  and  in  i860, 
$400,000.  From  1855  to  i860  this  concern  handled  the 
largest  weight  of  metal  of  any  in  the  Valley. 

From  Mr.  Phelps'  venture  in  Derby  two  other  companies 
arose.  The  first  was  in  1848  in  Ansonia.  Thomas  Wallace, 
who  had  learned  the  trade  of  drawing  wire  in  England,  in 
1832  removed  to  America.*  For  nine  years  he  worked  with 
uncertain  results  at  his  trade  in  various  places.  In  1841  he 
removed  to  Derbyf  and  until  1848  he  drew  wire  for  the  pin 
machines  for  the  Howe  Manufacturing  Company.  In  that 
year  he  began  operations  on  his  own  account  in  Ansonia, 
and  in  company  with  his  sons  built  up  a  large  business  in 
rolling  metal  and  drawing  wire.  In  1853  the  enterprise  was 
incorporated  and  a  good  business  was  done.  After  1880 
this  plant  was  one  of  the  largest  in  the  Valley.  Later  the 
company  was  forced  into  liquidation  and  in  1896  the  plant 
was  bought  by  the  Coe  Brass  Company. 

The  second  outgrowth  of  Mr.  Phelps'  activity  appeared  in 
the  organization  of  the  Humphreysville  Copper  Company 
in  Seymour,  in  1849,$  with  a  capital  of  $40,000,  increased  to 
$200,000  in  1852.  The  moving  spirit  in  this  company  was 
Mr.  Thomas  James,  who  had  been  first  in  the  Derby  mill, 
moving  to  Ansonia  in  1847.     In  the  earlier  years  this  new 

♦"History  New  Haven  County",  J.  L.  Rockey,  Vol.  H,  p.  485. 

f'History  of  the  Old  Town  of  Derby",  Orcutt  and  Beardsley,  p. 
664. 

^'History  of  the  Old  Town  of  Derby",  p.  482.  Connecticut  Quar- 
terly, Vol.  6,  1900,  pp.  320,  321.  "Seymour  and  Vicinity",  Sharpe,  pp. 
83,  87. 


64  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

company  was  very  prosperous.  But  in  1855,  with  a  nominal 
capital  of  $750,000,  it  was  succeeded  by  the  New  Haven 
Copper  Company  with  a  capital  of  $400,000.  The  new  com- 
pany was  still  over-capitalized  and  for  nearly  twenty  years 
financial  difficulties  interfered  with  the  prosperity  of  the 
concern.  Since  1880  the  company  has  been  moderately 
successful.  From  the  first  it  has  made  a  specialty  of  hand- 
ling copper. 

Again  in  185 1  a  new  firm  was  organized  in  Waterbury 
which  claims  to  be  the  first  to  use  steam  power  exclusively 
for  the  rolling  of  brass.*  Up  to  this  time  the  Waterbury 
Brass  Company  had  used  auxiliary  steam  power  more  ex- 
tensively than  any  of  the  other  concerns.  Mr.  Philo  Brown 
had  been  one  of  the  original  partners  in  Holmes  &  Hotchkiss 
and  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Brown  &  Elton,  which  had 
in  1838  succeeded  the  earlier  partnership.  In  185 1  he  as- 
sociated others  with  himself  and  the  partnership  of  Brown  & 
Brothers  was  organized.  In  1856  this  new  firm  bought 
half  of  the  business  of  Brown  &  Elton,  the  other  half  being 
purchased  by  Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens.  For  thirty 
years  the  new  firm  secured  large  profit  in  the  rolling  of 
brass  and  in  its  manufacture.  After  1880  financial  difficul- 
ties were  encountered  and  in  1886  the  company  ceased  oper- 
ations. At  that  time  part  of  the  plant  was  purchased  by 
Randolph  &  Clowes,  then  organized.  This  new  firm  was  at 
first  largely  engaged  in  the  making  of  brazed  and  seamless 
tubing.  Being  large  consumers  of  sheet  metal,  after  three 
years  they  established  a  rolling  mill,  purchasing  at  that  time 
the  rest  of  the  old  plant  of  Brown  &  Brothers.  At  the  first 
the  new  company  was  largely  successful,  but  in  later  years  it 
has  been  less  ably  managed  and  hence  less  profitable. 

*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  343. 


y^^^'^;^!!:^  /^i^-"^^- 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  65 

The  indomitable  Mr.  Israel  Holmes,  who  had  in  1845  as- 
sumed the  presidency  of  the  Waterbury  Brass  Company  and 
had  carried  it  to  large  success,  in  1853  severed  his  connection 
with  that  company  and  organized  a  new  concern,  the 
Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens.*  In  1856  this  firm  bought  half 
of  the  business  of  Brown  &  Elton.  From  the  first 
it  has  been  markedly  successful  and  now  controls  one 
of  the  largest  plants  in  the  trade.  This  was  the  first 
company  which  on  a  large  scale  started  out  with  a  de- 
liberate policy  to  manufacture  its  own  product.  The  first 
concerns  had  begun  as  makers  of  brass  buttons,  and  the  roll- 
ing of  brass  had  developed  under  their  hand.  Holmes  & 
Hotchkiss  began  to  roll  brass  for  market.  The  Derby  mill 
was  organized  to  roll  copper.  The  Wolcottville  concern 
had  been  at  the  first  interested  mainly  in  kettles.  The  other 
concerns  had  been  organized  with  some  specific  object  in 
view.  Some  of  these  had  been  driven  to  manufacture,  as 
they  had  facilities  for  producing  more  raw  material  than  the 
open  market  could  absorb.  But  Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens 
was  organized  to  roll  metal  and  then  to  manufacture  it  on  a 
large  scale.  Mr.  Holmes  had  charge  of  the  rolling  mill. 
Mr.  H.  W.  Hayden,  the  inventor  of  the  spinning  process 
and  who  had  demonstrated  his  mechanical  skill,  was  put  in 
charge  of  the  maufacture  of  goods.  Mr.  H.  H.  Hayden  had 
charge  of  the  marketing  of  the  product.  One  who  had  been 
in  the  employ  of  Daguerre  was  secured  from  France  and 
the  new  company  engaged  largely  and  successfully  in  the 
making  of  photographic  plates.  Also  the  company  engaged 
from  the  first  in  the  manufacture  of  lamps  and  burners  de- 
signed for  the  use  of  kerosene  oil. 

The  first  brass  lamp  made  in  Waterbury  designed  to  use 
*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  352-353- 


66  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

whale  oil  of  which  there  is  a  record  was  made  by  hand  in 
1807.*  Lamps  were  made  after  this  date  both  hammered 
and  cast.  Mr.  G.  W.  Burnham,  who  in  1834  became  one 
of  the  members  of  the  new  firm  Benedict  &  Burnham,  suc- 
ceeding Benedict  &  Coe,  had  included  brass  lamps  as  an 
article  of  trade  in  his  occupation  as  a  peddler  of  tinware. 
But  the  demand  was  not  large.  After  1855  petroleum  began 
to  be  refined  and  to  come  on  to  the  market.  By  i860  it  was 
generally  known  and  rapidly  came  into  general  use.  This 
created  the  demand  for  lamps,  which  in  turn  was  quickly 
felt  by  the  Waterbury  men.  Mr.  H.  W.  Hayden  of  the 
firm  of  Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens,  and  Mr.  Lewis  J. 
Atwood,  who  was  for  fifteen  years  in  their  employ  and  who 
later,  in  1869,  was  active  in  the  formation  of  a  new  company, 
were  the  two  men  who  led  all  others  in  the  attempt  to  adapt 
sheet  brass  to  the  making  of  lamps  and  their  fittings.  A 
very  large  business  was  established  in  this  line. 

About  this  time  a  new  company  was  organzed  in  Ansonia 
as  an  outgrowth  of  an  earlier  venture.  The  Osborn  & 
Cheeseman  Company  in  1866  constructed  a  plant  for  rolling 
brass  and  drawing  wire  which  for  a  time  was  quite  prosper- 
ous.! This  was  an  outgrowth  of  a  manufacture  of  hoop 
skirts  which  had  been  started  at  Birmingham  in  1858  and 
removed  to  Ansonia  in  1859.  In  1880  the  concern  employed 
250  hands.  In  1891  the  company  went  into  the  hands  of 
a  receiver.  At  this  time  it  was  engaged  in  several  lines  of 
manufacture.  The  rolling  mill  and  a  portion  of  the  brass 
manufacture  had  been  located  in  Shelton.  This  plant  was 
sold  to  the  Birmingham  Brass  Company,  organized  in  1892. 

*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  265. 
f'History  of  the  Old  Town  of  Derby",  Orcutt  and  Beardsley,  pp. 
420-421. 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  67 

After  a  somewhat  unsatisfactory  career,  in  1903  the  plant 
and  business  was  sold  to  the  Coe  Brass  Company,  which  dis- 
mantled the  mill  and  transferred  the  business  to  its  Ansonia 
plant. 

In  this  connection  the  organization  of  one  more  concern 
may  be  mentioned,  the  last  of  the  important  corporations  in 
the  trade.  In  1869  Mr.  Holmes  left  Holmes,  Booth  &  Hay- 
dens  and  in  company  with  others  organized  Holmes,  Booth 
&  Atwood,  a  name  which  was  abandoned  by  order  of  the 
court  on  account  of  its  resemblance  to  the  older  associa- 
tion, and  became  in  1871  Plume  &  Atwood.*  This  new  firm 
bought  a  brass  mill  in  Thomaston,  which  had  been  origi- 
nally organized  in  1854  to  roll  metal  for  the  making  of 
clocks,  and  also  a  smaller  concern  in  Waterbury,  and  became 
one  of  the  important  factors  in  the  trade. 

Mr.  Holmes  died  in  1874.  His  own  personality  had 
bulked  large  in  the  story  of  the  brass  industry  up  to  that 
time.f  Originally  in  the  employ  of  the  Scovills  he  had 
been  instrumental  in  the  organization  of  the  Wolcottville 
Brass  Company,  the  Waterbury  Brass  Company,  Holmes, 
Booth  &  Hay  dens,  and  Plume  &  Atwood,  which  in  1884 
with  the  Scovills  produced  more  than  half  the  gross  weight 
of  tubing,  wire  and  sheet  metal  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley. 
And  at  this  time  the  Naugatuck  Valley  produced  more  than 
85%  of  the  rolled  brass  and  brass  ware  of  the  country. 

The  question  may  again  arise  why  this  industry  became 
thus  localized  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley.     During  the  period 

*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  361. 

fSince  the  death  of  Mr.  Hohnes,  until  1900,  not  a  single  concern 
of  first  rate  importance  has  been  organized  in  the  Naugatuck  Val- 
ley. Randolph  and  Clowes,  in  1886,  was  only  an  apparent  exception, 
for  this  took  over  an  older  plant.     See  p.  64. 


68  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

from  1830  to  i860  the  amount  of  material  to  be  handled 
came  to  be  very  large.  Freight  charges  came  to  be  a  large 
item  in  the  business.  The  rolling  mills  early  found  that  they 
could  produce  more  sheets  and  wire  than  the  market  could 
absorb.  And  yet  the  industry  remained  and  increased  ex- 
tensively. 

Apparently  the  success  of  the  enterprise  was  due  in  the 
main  to  two  factors,  one  of  which  was  dependent  upon  the 
other.  The  factor  of  prime  consequence  was  the  energy 
and  initiative  of  the  men  whose  fortunes  depended  upon  suc- 
cess. They  became  convinced  that  it  might  become  a  profit- 
able undertaking.  This  assurance  was  based  to  a  consider- 
able extent  upon  the  advice  of  Mr.  Croft,  who  had  been  in 
touch  with  the  industry  in  Birmingham,  England,  and  who 
assured  his  associates  that  the  business  was  one  of  the  most 
profitable  in  which  his  English  friends  were  engaged.  As 
the  work  continued  this  hope  of  large  profit  was  confirmed 
by  experience.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that  of  the  ten  firms  to 
enter  the  business  before  1865  only  two  were  compelled  to 
undergo  liquidation.  Possibly  a  third  should  be  included, 
for  the  Wolcottville  Brass  Company  suspended  operations 
for  a  time  after  the  new  process  for  making  brass  kettles 
was  invented  in  1851,  but  the  plant  was  later  reorganized 
and  became  conspicuously  successful.  The  two  which 
failed  were  Brown  &  Brothers  in  1886  and  Wallace  &  Sons 
in  1895.  The  expectation  of  financial  profit  was  well 
founded  and  was  magnificently  realized.  Led  by  this  hope 
the  men  who  were  in  touch  with  the  rising  industry  brought 
to  the  undertaking  splendid  enterprise  and  energy.  Diffi- 
culties which  would  have  discouraged  ordinary  men  were 
met  and  surmounted.  Numerous  trips  were  made  to  Eng- 
land and  even  to  the  Continent  to  secure  processes,  machin- 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  69 

ery  and  workmen.  Moreover  when  a  surplus  of  metal  was 
at  hand,  the  undertakers  devised  many  new  processes  and 
invented  new  applications  of  brass  to  marketable  wares. 

The  second  important  factor  in  the  localization  of  the  in- 
dustry may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  at  this  time  the  only 
labor  skilled  in  the  making  and  the  manufacture  of  brass  was 
to  be  found  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley.  On  several  occasions 
new  processes  were  established  by  imported  labor  and  only 
a  few  men  were  competent  to  do  the  work.  An  illustration 
of  this  monopoly  of  skill  and  ingenuity  is  seen  in  the  fact 
that  except  the  first  two  firms,  Scovills  and  Benedict  before 
1830,  every  other  new  undertaking  in  the  Valley  was  inaug- 
urated by  men  who  had  gained  experience  in  mills  already 
existing. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  brass  men  themselves  be- 
lieved that  another  factor  was  essential  to  their  success, 
namely,  the  tariiif.  To  the  extent  in  which  this  opinion  in- 
fluenced their  conduct  the  tariflf  was  of  assistance.*  It  is 
also  clear  that  the  tariff  did  make  it  possible  to  maintain 
prices  on  a  level  which  otherwise  would  have  been  impossi- 
ble, and  to  that  extent  it  did  increase  profits  and  hence  ex- 
tend a  larger  inducement  to  undertake  the  manufacture. 

Brasswares  figured  in  the  earliest  tariffs.  In  1791  the 
duty  on  brasswares  was  5% ;  on  tin,  pewter  and  copper, 
7^%.  Hamilton  in  his  "Report  on  Manufactures"  urged 
that  the  rates  on  manufactured  brasswares  should  be  raised 
to  at  least  7>4%  ad  valorem,  and  10%  would  be  still  better.f 
He  also  urged  that  copper  and  brass  in  sheets,  with  pig  cop- 

*The  psychological  effect  and  value  of  the  tariff  has  not  often 
been  realized  and  appreciated. 

f'Report  on  Manufactures",  Hamilton,  Amer.  State  Papers, 
Finance,  Vol.  I,  p.  139. 


70  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

per  and  calamine,  still  used  in  the  making  of  brass,  should  be 
free.  By  the  act  of  June  7,  1794,  the  rate  on  all  brass,  cop- 
per and  tinwares  was  made  15%,  which  was  near  the  highest 
rate  levied.* 

The  "embargo"  and  "non-intercourse  acts"  of  1807  and 
1809,  with  the  War  of  1812,  largely  cut  off  foreign  trade 
and  moreover  precede  the  birth  of  the  industry.  The  tariff 
of  1816  fixed  the  rate  at  20%  ad  valorem,  which  was  the 
maximum  rate  at  that  time,  on  all  brass,  copper,  pewter, 
lead  and  tinwares,  brass  wire,  pins,  buttons  and  moulds.f 
The  act  of  June  30,  1818,  increased  this  rate  to  25%.$ 
Many  of  those  interested  in  various  industries  urged  higher 
duties  from  time  to  time  and  new  tariffs  were  ordered  in 
1820,  1824  and  1828,  But  in  none  of  these  was  any  change 
made  in  the  brass  schedules. § 

According  to  the  principle  which  lay  at  the  base  of  the 
tariff  of  1833  unmanufactured  articles  were  to  be  admitted 
free  of  duty.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ruled  that 
sheet  brass  and  wire  were  unmanufactured  articles  and 
hence  were  to  be  admitted  free.  This  decision  alarmed  and 
aroused  the  Waterbury  men  and  their  action  is  a  good  illus- 
tration of  the  alertness  and  energy  which  appears  in  all  the 
early  history  of  the  industry.  Mr.  Israel  Holmes,  of  Brown 
&  Hotchkiss,  later  Brown  &  Elton,  and  Mr.  Israel  Coe,  of 
Benedict  &  Coe,  were  sent  to  Washington  to  secure  a  re- 
versal of  this  decision.  The  Connecticut  representatives 
were  interviewed  and  Mr.  Clay,  the  author  of  the  bill,  was 


*"History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  54- 

tBishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  228. 

JBishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  242. 

§Bishop,  Vol.  II,  pp.  256-259.,  291-293,  322-324. 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  71 

seen.  It  was  determined  that  no  change  in  the  original  bill 
could  be  made,  but  a  special  bill  was  introduced  ordering  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  include  sheet  brass  and  wire 
in  the  list  of  manufactured  articles.  This  bill  was  passed 
March  2,  1833,  ^^  almost  the  last  hours  of  the  expiring  Con- 
gress.* The  effect  of  the  bill  was  to  maintain  the  25%  rate 
established  in  1818. 

The  bills  of  1842  and  1846  made  the  rate  with  one  or  two 
specified  exceptions  30%  ad  valorem.  Clocks,  kettles,  britan- 
nia  ware,  plated  ware,  German  silver,  hooks  and  eyes  and  all 
manufactures  of  copper,  brass  and  tin  were  included  under 
the  same  rate.  In  1857,  24%,  which  was  the  maximum  pro- 
tective rate  in  the  bill,  was  levied  on  all  manufactures  of 
the  metals  already  named.  In  the  act  of  July  14,  1862,  the 
standard  rate  for  the  brass  and  copper  schedule  was  35% 
ad  valorem.  This  remained  without  change  till  1883.  In 
the  tariff  act  of  that  year  45%  ad  valorem  was  levied  on  all 
manufactures  or  wares  composed  wholly  or  in  part  of  cop- 
per, zinc,  pewter  and  other  metals  not  otherwise  enumerated, 
wholly  or  partly  manufactured.  From  1894  to  1897,  35% 
was  the  rate  adopted  for  this  schedule.  With  the  exception 
of  those  three  years  the  rate  fixed  in  1883  has  remained 
without  change  to  the  present. 

Ingot  and  old  copper  were  free  until  1846,  when  a  rate  of 
5%  ad  valorem  was  ordered.  After  1850  the  domestic  pro- 
duction of  copper  became  notable.  After  i860  exporting 
began.  Those  who  were  interested  in  the  mining  of  copper, 
however,  seem  to  have  feared  foreign  competition,  for  they 
secured  the  passage  of  a  special  act,  Feb.  24,  1869,  relating 
to  this  metal.     By  this  act,  copper  ore  was  taxed  three  cents 

*Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  375.  "Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Ander- 
son, Vol.  II,  p.  323. 


72  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

for  each  pound  of  fine  copper  therein,  old  copper  was  assessed 
four  cents  a  pound,  pig  and  bar  copper  five  cents  a  pound 
and  sheet  copper  with  all  manufactures  of  the  metal  45% 
ad  valorem.  For  pig  copper  the  rate  was  about  25%  ad 
valorem.  Later  these  rates  were  reduced  to  half  a  cent  a 
pound  for  fine  copper  in  ore,  a  cent  a  pound  for  old  copper 
and  a  cent  and  a  quarter  for  pig  copper. 

In  a  discussion  of  the  effect  of  the  tariff  upon  the  brass 
industry  two  facts  immediately  appear.  First;  those  who 
were  actively  engaged  in  the  industry  from  1830  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  without  a  single  notable  exception,  have  believed 
that  the  tariff  was  an  important  factor  in  the  growth  and 
development  of  the  industry.  It  is  certain  that  many  of 
those  who  engaged  in  the  industry  were  encouraged  to  do 
so  by  a  belief  that  the  tariff  afforded  them  some  protection 
from  foreign  competition.  In  this  belief  they  ventured  capi- 
tal in  this  enterprise  which  otherwise  might  have  been  de- 
voted to  some  other  manufacture.  Second ;  this  industry 
was  singularly  favored  in  the  tariff  schedules.  With  raw 
material  free  during  all  of  the  early  period  and  with  never 
a  heavy  tax  upon  it  until  the  industry  was  practically  inde- 
pendent of  foreign  supply,  together  with  the  enjoyment  gen- 
erally of  the  highest  protective  rate  in  force  upon  the  product 
of  the  mills,  the  industry  should  indicate  results  most  favor- 
able for  the  protective  policy.  Such  results  appear.  It  is 
quite  clear,  however,  that  the  tariff  was  not  the  only  factor 
in  the  case. 

If  the  tariff  had  been  the  only  important  factor  to  be  con- 
sidered, the  industry  should  have  been  more  widely  diffused. 
The  more  important  reasons  why  domestic  competition  did 
not  become  acute  are  probably  the  advantage  of  an  early 
start,  the  practical  control  of  the  supply  of  skilled  labor  and 


GROWTH  AND  DEVELOPMENT  73 

the  comparatively  limited  market.  For  from  1830  to  the 
present  day  the  rolling  mills  existing  at  any  one  time  have 
generally  been  able  to  turn  out  more  sheets  and  wire  than 
could  be  readily  handled  in  remanufacture.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  say  whether  the  industry  would  have  become  estab- 
lished without  the  tariif ,  for  this  was  an  existing  fact.  The 
value  of  the  tariff  has  been  different  at  different  times. 
To-day  the  industry  would  undoubtedly  thrive  even  if  con- 
siderable reduction  were  made  in  existing  rates. 

It  is  probable  that  the  tariff  now  in  force  on  ore  and  pig 
copper  is  entirely  without  effect.  And  probably  at  no  time 
has  this  been  a  matter  of  consequence  to  the  brass  industry 
specifically.  To-day,  apart  from  speculation,  the  price  of 
raw  copper  is  fixed  by  the  mines  of  the  United  States.  In 
Montana,  and  especially  in  Arizona  and  vicinity,  large  masses 
of  ore  of  varying  richness  are  available.  With  the  rise  of 
every  cent  a  pound  above  twelve  cents  the  amount  of  ore 
which  can  be  profitably  worked  increases  rapidly.  So  pro- 
duction increases  rapidly  with  the  rise  in  price,  which  acts 
as  a  balance  upon  the  market. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  before  1830  the  tariff  was  of  no 
large  consequence.  English  buttons  undersold  American 
buttons  because  of  superior  processes  of  manufacture.  After 
1830  for  a  few  years  the  rolling  mills  were  reaching  after 
the  American  market.  They  were  only  just  getting  estab- 
lished. The  tariff  at  that  time  was  probably  a  more  impor- 
tant factor  than  at  any  date  before  i860.  From  1837  to  1857 
was  the  period  which  before  1890  was  the  time  of  growth 
and  development.  And  during  these  years  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain that  American  inventive  genius,  notably  in  connection 
with  the  manufacture  of  the  brass  clock,  of  pins,  of  kettles 
and  of  burners  for  kerosene  oil,  was  a  far  more  important 


74  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

factor  than  the  tariff.  During  this  period  the  industry 
would  have  prospered,  although  it  is  quite  certain  that 
profits  were  larger  than  they  would  have  been  had  there 
been  no  tariff.  The  period  of  greatest  strain  was  from  1870 
to  1885.  At  times  during  these  years  the  importation  of 
foreign  goods  was  relatively  very  large  notwithstanding  the 
high  tariff  rate.  It  was  in  order  to  check  this  trade  still 
more  if  possible  that  the  higher  rate  was  urged  in  1883. 
Notwithstanding  the  increase,  the  importation  of  foreign 
brass  and  copper  wares  was  at  the  highest  figures  at  about 
this  time.  The  periods  of  largest  importations  were  from 
1870  to  1874  and  from  1880  to  1886.  It  is  quite  certain 
that  at  these  times  and  generally  from  1870  to  1885  the 
tariff  was  an  important  factor  in  checking  foreign  competi- 
tion. After  1885  the  expanding  demand,  especially  in  con- 
nection with  the  development  of  electricity,  enabled  the  Con- 
necticut mills  to  perfect  their  organization  and  to  gain  con- 
trol of  the  market.  To-day  the  price  of  brass  in  sheets  and 
wire  is  usually  on  a  parity  with  prices  in  England,  notwith- 
standing the  higher  scale  of  wages  and  the  usual  higher 
price  of  zinc  in  the  United  States.  The  existing  tariff  at 
least  in  its  present  rates  is  not  an  important  factor  in  the 
trade. 

However,  the  brass  industry  is  a  part  of  the  industrial  or- 
ganization of  the  country  and  has  very  intimate  relations 
with  many  branches  of  manufacture.  If  it  be  granted  that 
the  general  industrial  organization  of  the  nation  is  based 
upon  a  high  protective  tariff,  with  its  known  effect  upon 
wages  and  prices,  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  tariff  can  not 
be  entirely  removed  from  the  products  of  the  brass  mills 
alone  without  some  relatively  injurious  effect. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Market. 

Salesmen  and  agencies.     Sources  of  raw  material;    copper,    zinc 
Roads  and  railroads. 

BEFORE  1825  the  question  of  the  supply  of  raw  mate- 
rial was  not  acute.  The  amount  needed  was  small. 
Old  stills  and  broken  kettles  were  to  be  found  in  suf- 
ficient quantity.*     The  zinc  needed  was  imported. 

At  the  first  the  finished  product  was  handled  by  peddlers, 
and  for  many  years  various  manufiactures  of  brass,  such  as 
buttons,  kettles,  clocks  and  lamps,  could  be  found  in  their 
wagons.  Shortly,  however,  the  business  outgrew  this  lim- 
ited service.  About  1820  Israel  Holmes  began  his  connec- 
tion with  the  industry,  when  he  entered  the  employ  of  Leav- 
enworth, Hayden  &  Scovill,  which  in  1827  became  J.  M.  L. 
&  W.  H.  Scovill.  Holmes  had  had  experience  as  a  sales- 
man in  the  South  and  was  at  first  in  charge  of  the  company's 
store  in  Waterbury.f  When  the  Scovill  brothers  organized 
their  first  partnership,  one  of  them  took  charge  of  the  fac- 
tory in  Waterbury  and  the  other  handled  the  sale  of  goods  in 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  Boston.ij: 

The  later  enterprises  included  salesmen  in  the  organiza- 
tion. From  near  the  beginning  of  his  interest  in  the  metal 
button  business,  in  1823,  Aaron  Benedict  had  as  one  of  his 
associates  Mr.   Benjamin  DeForest,  who  resided  in  New 

♦"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  275. 
fAnderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  321. 
^Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  280. 
6 


76  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

York  and  superintended  the  sale  of  buttons.*  And  later 
when  in  1829  Mr.  Israel  Coe  entered  the  new  firm  of  Bene- 
dict &  Coe,  it  was  as  a  recognition  of  his  ability  proved  by 
three  years'  experience  as  a  salesman.f  And  when  in  1834 
Mr.  Coe  retired  and  Mr.  G.  W.  Burnham,  who  had  been  a 
wagon  peddler  in  his  earlier  days,  became  the  principal 
member  of  a  new  combination  with  Mr.  Benedict,  his  highest 
recommendation  was  that  he  was  an  exceptionally  efficient 
salesman.^  After  1835  he  resided  continuously  in  New 
York  in  charge  of  the  agency  there. 

No  sooner  had  Mr.  Holmes  left  the  employ  of  the  Scovills 
in  1830  and  organized  the  new  firm  of  Holmes  &  Hotchkiss 
than  he  took  for  his  part  of  the  business  the  placing  of  the 
product  and  sought  a  market  in  Boston  and  elsewhere. § 

Selling  agencies  were  successively  inaugurated  as  they 
were  needed  and  pushed  the  sale  of  the  products  of  the 
mills  and  factories. 

With  the  expansion  of  the  market  the  demand  for  raw 
material  became  more  insistent.  Copper  and  zinc  were  im- 
ported in  the  form  of  pigs.  Mr.  A.  G.  Phelps,  who  later  or- 
ganized Phelps,  Dodge  &  Company,  was  the  most  important 
factor  in  this  trade  and  amassed  a  fortune  in  it.  From  the 
beginning  of  this  larger  demand  efforts  were  made  to  become 
independent  of  foreign  supply.  In  1837,  as  already  noted, 
and  again  in  1857,  copper  was  unsuccessfully  sought  in 
the  Simsbury  mines.  1 1  The  ore  was  rich  enough,  but  it  was 
refractory  and  expensive  to  work.  No  relief  was  experi- 
enced until  copper  began  to  arrive  from  Lake  Superior. 

*Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  296. 

fAnderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  302. 

^Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  303,  304. 

§Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  262. 

1 1  "Newgate  of  Connecticut",  Phelps,  p.  24.     See  pp.  20,  21. 


^^J-4^^M-t^<u''1^< 


THE  MARKET  77 

Deposits  of  copper  along  the  southern  shore  of  Lake 
Superior  were  known  to  exist  before  1800.*  There  is  no 
record  that  they  were  systematically  worked  until  just  be- 
fore 1850.  Between  1845  ^"^^  i^S^  ^^^  who  shortly  inter- 
ested Boston  capitalists  began  to  exploit  these  deposits  and 
small  shipments  of  copper  were  made.  The  copper  exists 
in  threads  and  flakes  imbedded  in  rock.  The  rock  was 
roasted,  the  copper  separated  and  sent  to  market.  The 
metal  was  originally  nearly  pure,  but  the  result  of  the 
roasting  process  was  that  impurities  became  associated  with 
the  metal,  and  moreover  the  copper  was  not  in  a  form  to  be 
used  in  manufacturing. 

These  facts  appearing,  Mr.  John  R.  Grout  in  1849  inter- 
viewed Mr.  Israel  Coe  of  the  Wolcottville  Brass  Company, 
who  was  in  Detroit  at  the  time,  and  later  came  to  Waterbury 
and  interested  Mr.  J.  M.  L.  Scovill  and  others  in  a  smelting 
project.  A  party  of  Waterbury  men  visited  the  section  and 
on  May  25,  1850,  the  Waterbury  and  Detroit  Copper  Com- 
pany was  organized,  controlled  by  Waterbury  capital.  The 
first  smelter  to  handle  Lake  Superior  copper  was  erected  by 
this  concern.  In  1867  another  smelter  which  had  mean- 
while been  erected  at  Portage  Lake  was  purchased  and  the 
earlier  company  became  the  Detroit  and  Lake  Superior  Cop- 
per Company,  with  a  capital  of  $50,000,  and  still  controlled 
by  Waterbury  men.  This  company,  like  its  predecessor,  did 
no  mining,  but  simply  prepared  the  product  of  the  roasters 
for  the  market.  Until  after  1870  the  smelting  of  Lake 
Superior  copper  was  controlled  by  this  company.     As  after 

*"Travels  through  the  interior  parts  of  North  America  in  the 
years  1766,  1767  and  1768",  J.  Carver,  p.  139.  "Report  on  Manufac- 
tures", Gallatin,  1810,  Amer.  State  Papers,  Finance,  Vol.  II,  p.  429. 


78  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

1865  the  mining  companies  erected  their  own  smelters,  the 
possibility  of  the  indefinite  expansion  of  the  Detroit  and 
Lake  Superior  Company  was  arrested.  The  company,  how- 
ever, continued  in  the  business,  at  times  with  large  profit, 
until  after  1900,  when  it  gradually  sold  its  properties  and 
went  out  of  existence  in  1906. 

In  1850  the  production  of  domestic  copper  was  650  tons,* 
practically  all  from  the  Lake  Superior  region;  in  i860  the 
production  was  7,200  tons;  in  1870,  12,600  tons;  in  1880, 
27,000  tons.  After  1880  other  sources  of  supply  in  Montana 
and  Arizona  were  opened  and  the  production  of  domestic 
copper  increased  largely.  In  1879  83%  of  the  domestic 
supply  came  from  Lake  Superior.  This  proportion  has 
steadily  decreased.  After  i860  very  little  copper  was  im- 
ported. After  1875  the  export  of  copper  began  to  reach 
large  proportions.  Since  then  from  45%  to  55%  of  the 
total  United  States  production  has  been  exported.  Now 
the  world's  production  is  upwards  of  700,000  long  tons,t  of 
which  the  United  States  contributes  from  55%  to  60%.$ 

Zinc,  the  other  constituent  of  brass,  was  at  first  imported. 
In  1867  Wisconsin  ores  of  zinc,  smelted  at  Carondelet,  Mis- 
souri, began  to  come  to  the  market.  In  that  year  1,800  tons 
were  reported  as  produced.  The  production  rapidly  increased 
and  after  1870  the  brass  industry  was  independent  of  for- 
eign sources.  In  1869  ^^e  first  exploitation  of  the  lead  and 
zinc  fields  in  southwestern  Missouri  was  begun  and  these 

*See  page  50. 

fFor  consumption  of  copper  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley  see  pp.  98, 

lOI. 

JAbout  ten  per  cent,  should  be  added  to  this  proportion  as  given 
for  the  United  States  to  cover  the  production  of  Canada  and  Mexico, 
which  is  practically  all  marketed  through  the  United  State.s. 


THE  MARKET  79 

have  since  been  the  chief  sources  of  supply.  To-day  up- 
wards of  200,000  tons  of  zinc  are  annually  produced  in  this 
country,  of  which  about  ten  per  cent,  is  exported. 

It  was  not  until  after  1835  that  the  gross  amount  of  metal 
handled  by  the  various  brass  mills  of  Waterbury  and  vicinity 
reached  a  ton  a  week.  The  development  of  various  manu- 
factures, clocks,  hooks  and  eyes,  pins  and  kettles,  together 
with  the  demand  for  German  silver  by  the  tableware  and 
plating  shops,  so  enlarged  the  market  that  the  gross  weight 
of  metal  in  the  course  of  six  years  from  1837  to  1843  in- 
creased to  more  than  five  tons  a  week,  or  about  300  tons  a 
year.  This  caused  an  emergence  of  the  problem  of  trans- 
portation.* 

Before  1840  there  had  been  three  routes  over  which  the 
traffic  was  handled.  The  first  in  importance  was  the  road 
twenty-two  miles  to  New  Haven.  The  first  turnpike  con- 
nection out  of  Waterbury  was  effected  in  1797  over  this 
road.f  This  was  on  the  direct  line  between  New  Haven 
and  Albany.  After  18 10  there  was  a  weekly  stage  by  this 
road,  which  subsequently  ran  more  frequently.  This  in- 
volved a  heavy  grade,  but  was  the  ordinary  line  of  traffic. 

Another  road  extended  south  seventeen  miles  to  Derby, 
the  head  of  navigation  of  the  Housatonic  River.  After 
1820  a  turnpike  connection  was  had  by  this  route,$  and  as 
the  brass  industry  grew  it  was  increasingly  used.  Over  this 
route  freight  was  carried  by  boat  from  New  York  to  Derby 
and  thence  by  team  up  the  Valley.    After   1824  regular 

♦Confer  "Early  Transportation  and  Banking  Enterprises  of  the 
States,  etc.",  Prof.  G.  S.  Callender,  Journal  of  Economics,  Vol.  17, 
pp.  IH-162. 

t'Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  I,  p.  566. 

^Anderson,  Vol.  I,  p.  567. 


80  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

steamboat  connection   with   New   York   was   maintained.* 

A  third  route  which  was  used  to  some  extent  was  by  road 
thirty  miles  east  to  Hartford  and  thence  by  boat  on  the 
Connecticut  or  further  by  road,  as  the  case  might  demand. 

From  soon  after  1820  the  improvement  of  the  road  from 
Bridgeport  north  to  Derby  and  Waterbury  was  urged. 
Occasional  work  was  done  with  the  result  that  during  the 
summer  teaming  was  fairly  good,  but  in  the  winter  and  espe- 
cially for  six  weeks  in  the  spring  the  question  of  transporta- 
tion was  a  serious  one.  The  demand  for  road  improvement 
became  more  insistent  with  the  expansion  of  the  brass  busi- 
ness. 

If  it  had  not  been  that  at  just  this  time  the  development 
of  the  Derby  mill  was  arrested  by  the  transfer  to  Ansonia, 
the  manifest  advantage  in  transportation  would  have  seri- 
ously affected  the  Waterbury  men.  But  the  Waterbury  mills 
had  the  command  of  the  market  for  brass,  Mr.  Phelps  was 
shifting  his  location,  he  had  several  important  projects  under 
consideration,  and  it  was  not  easy  for  him  to  secure  skilled 
workmen ;  hence  he  was  unable  to  take  full  advantage  of  his 
opportunity. 

It  was  again  Mr.  Israel  Holmes  who  came  forward  as 
one  of  the  moving  spirits  in  the  solution  of  the  problem. 
He  was  ably  seconded  by  other  leaders  in  the  industry  which 
had  so  much  at  stake;  by  Aaron  Benedict,  W.  H.  Scovill, 
Anson  G.  Phelps  and  others,  A  railroad  from  tide  water 
at  Bridgeport  north  was  chartered  in  1845,  which  charter 
was  amended  in  1847  and  in  1848.!     At  first  it  was  in- 


♦"History  of  the  Old  Town  of  Derby",  Orcutt  and  Beardsley,  p. 
272. 

f'History  of  the  Old  Town  of  Derby",  Orcutt  and  Beardsley,  pp. 
311-313.     "Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  157. 


THE  MARKET 


81 


tended  to  build  only  to  Waterbury  and  the  capital  was  fixed 
at  $800,000.  It  was,  however,  decided  to  extend  the  road 
to  Winsted  and  the  capital  was  increased  to  $1,200,000. 
The  brass  manufacturers  believed  that  no  profit  would  be 
received  from  the  operation  of  the  road,  but  they  were  com- 
pelled to  build  it  to  get  their  material  in  and  out.  The 
Waterbury  men  declined  stock  certificates,  but  raised  $30,- 
000  as  a  bonus  and  furnished  the  right  of  way.  Work  was 
begun  in  April,  1848,  and  the  road  was  opened  to  Derby, 
May  15,  1849,  to  Waterbury,  June  11,  and  to  Winsted,  Sep- 
tember 24.  This  Naugatuck  Railroad  became  a  large 
handler  of  freight  and  was  for  its  length  one  of  the  most 
profitable  pieces  of  road  in  the  United  States.  It  was  ably 
managed  from  the  first  and  has  played  a  large  part  in  the 
development  of  the  brass  industry. 

Those  who  undertook  this  enterprise  believed  that  Water- 
bury would  be  the  most  important  point  on  the  line.  This 
expectation  was  realized.  In  1851  the  passenger  receipts  at 
Waterbury  were  more  than  twice  those  of  any  other  station 
north  of  Bridgeport,  and  the  freight  receipts  more  than  three 
times  as  large.  In  that  year  29%  of  the  gross  receipts  and 
363^%  of  the  freight  receipts  were  taken  at  Waterbury. 

The  increase  in  the  business  done  in  the  Valley  is  well  in- 
dicated by  a  comparison  of  the  gross  receipts  of  this  road. 
These  were  as  follows: 

1850,         ....      $145,261.59 


1856, 
1866, 
1876-7, 
1885-6, 


237,416.09 
494,026.47 
503,666.97 
704,336.48 


In  1887  the  road  was  leased  to  the  New  York,  New  Haven 
and  Hartford  Railroad  Co. 


82  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

During  the  three  years  beginning-  in  1905  this  road  was 
double-tracked  to  Waterbury,  many  curves  reduced  and  im- 
provements made  at  a  cost  which  exceeded  the  cost  of  build- 
ing the  road  at  the  start. 

Before  1850  a  second  railroad  was  projected  to  connect 
Waterbury  with  the  Hudson  River.*  This  was,  however, 
a  longer  route  and  involved  some  serious  engineering  prob- 
lems. The  opening  of  the  Naugatuck  road  satisfied  the 
pressing  demand.  Many  difficulties  were  encountered  and 
finally  the  road  was  opened  first  to  Hartford,  January  11, 
1855,  the  extension  to  the  Hudson  River  not  being  finished 
until  January,  1882. 

Later  still  another  connection  was  eflFected,  this  time  from 
Ansonia  to  New  Haven.f  The  various  vicissitudes  which 
this  last  project  encountered  may  be  best  understood  as  it 
is  noted  that  the  road  is  less  than  thirteen  miles  in  length 
and  although  the  company  was  incorporated  in  1864  the 
road  was  not  opened  until  August  9,  1871. 

*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  160-162. 
t"History  of  the  Old  Town  of  Derby",  Orcutt  and  Beardsley,  pp. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Organization. 

Individual  initiative.  Capital  involved.  Partnerships  and  corpora- 
tions. Labor.  Machinery,  mechanics  and  processes  imported. 
Training  a  native  force.    Division  of  labor.    Wages.     Profits. 

AT  THE  start,  and  indeed  until  the  industry  was  thor- 
oughly established,  individual  initiative  played  an 
unusually  important  part.  It  may  almost  be  said 
that  the  brass  industry  as  it  exists  to-day  in  the  United 
States  was  the  creation  of  half  a  dozen  men.  It  was  the 
Scovill  brothers  and  Aaron  Benedict  in  competition  with 
them  who  first  saw  that  the  button  business  had  in  it  the 
possibility  of  enlargement  and  profit.  From  the  Scovill 
shop  came  Israel  Holmes,  who  after  ten  years'  connection 
with  the  older  firm  became  one  of  the  organizers  of  Holmes 
&  Hotchkiss  in  1830;  and  afterwards  as  has  been  noted  was 
connected  with  the  organization  of  four  other  large  con- 
cerns.* Israel  Coe,  who  in  1829  became  Mr.  Benedict's 
partner,  was  a  leading  spirit  in  the  Wolcottville  Brass  Com- 
pany and  was  one  of  the  prime  movers  in  the  organization 
of  the  Waterbury  and  Detroit  Copper  Company.  All  of 
these  men  were  natives  of  Waterbury,  except  Mr.  Coe,  who 
was  born  in  Goshen,  near  by,  and  moved  to  Waterbury 
when  twenty-six  years  of  age.  And  these  men,  with  Mr. 
Coe's  son  Lyman  and  A.  G.  Phelps,  whose  interest  has 
been  narrated,  were  active  partners  and  directly  assisted  in 

*These  four  were  the  Wolcottville  Brass  Co.,  Waterbury  Brass 
Co.,  Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens,  and  Plume  &  Atwood. 


84  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

the  organization  of  eight  large  concerns,*  which  in  1884 
together  produced  eighty-five  per  cent,  of  the  output  of  the 
Valley,  which  in  turn  was  eighty-five  per  cent,  of  the  pro- 
duction of  the  country.  With  the  exception  of  the  Scovill 
brothers,  who  died  one  in  1854  and  the  other  in  1857,  these 
all  lived  until  after  1870  and  saw  the  industry  firmly  estab- 
lished. Except  Mr.  Israel  Coe  they  all  died  actively  con- 
nected with  the  industry  to  which  they  had  given  so  much 
of  their  enterprise  and  energy. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  industry  the  amount  of  capital  in- 
volved in  the  business  was  comparatively  small.  In  1827, 
when  the  firm  of  J.  M.  L.  &  W.  H.  Scovill  was  organized 
and  after  their  predecessors  had  labored  for  twenty-five 
years  to  establish  the  business,  the  value  of  plant  and  good- 
will was  estimated  at  $20,ooo.t  Aaron  Benedict  and  his 
associates  began  in  1823  with  $6,500,  and  in  1829  the  capi- 
tal of  the  new  partnership,  Benedict  &  Coe,  was  fixed  at 
$20,000.     Holmes  &  Hotchkiss  began  in  1830  with  $8,000. 

The  capital  invested  increased  rapidly  after  1830.  In  1834 
the  capital  of  Benedict  &  Burnham,  succeeding  Benedict  & 
Coe,  was  $40,000,  which  reached  $100,000  six  years  later, 
and  while  in  1856  the  sum  was  fixed  at  $400,000,$  yet  this  by 
no  means  represented  the  amount  invested.  In  1838,  after 
Brown  &  Elton  had  succeeded  Holmes  &  Hotchkiss,  the 
capital  involved  was  stated  to  be  $75,000.  In  1850  when 
a  consolidation  of  several  Scovill  interests  took  place  the 
capital  was  fixed  at  $200,000. 

♦The  eight  were  Scovill  Mfg.  Co.,  Benedict  &  Burnham  Mfg.  Co., 
Brown  &  Elton,  Wolcottville  Brass  Co.,  Waterbury  Brass  Co., 
Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens,  Ansonia  Brass  &  Copper  Co.,  and  Plume 
&  Atwood. 

f'Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  276. 

^Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  298. 


^^^>^ 


ORGANIZATION  85 

The  concerns  later  organized  required  a  larger  capital  in 
order  effectively  to  enter  the  field.  For  example,  the  Water- 
bury  Brass  Company  was  organized  in  1845  with  $40,000, 
which  was  increased  to  $50,000  the  same  year  and  succes- 
sively was  raised  to  $250,000  in  1853.  In  1853,  when  Brown 
&  Brothers  became  a  joint  stock  corporation  after  two  years 
as  a  special  partnership,  the  capital  was  $200,000.  Holmes, 
Booth  &  Haydens,  organized  also  in  1853,  had  $110,000  capi- 
tal at  the  start,  shortly  increased  to  $400,000. 

Regarding  the  capital  invested  in  the  business  three  facts 
must  be  noted.  Of  the  increase  in  capitalization  down  to 
1870  and  in  some  degree  even  to  the  present  a  large  portion 
represented  undivided  profits.  From  the  beginning  it  has 
been  customary  to  withdraw  only  moderate  amounts  and 
to  devote  the  surplus  to  the  extension  of  the  business. 
Probably  four-fifths  of  the  capital  to-day  involved  in  the 
brass  industry  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley  represents  undivided 
profits.  When  in  January,  1838,  the  capital  of  Brown  & 
Elton  was  temporarily  fixed  at  $40,000,  all  but  $12,000  had 
been  derived  from  the  business.* 

Further,  in  several  prominent  cases  the  nominal  capital 
was  kept  at  a  comparatively  small  amount.  For  example, 
the  nominal  capital  of  the  Scovill  Company,  Benedict  & 
Burnham,  Brown  &  Elton,  Waterbury  Brass  Company,  and 
Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens  for  years  represented  only  a 
small  portion  of  the  money  invested.  This  is  an  indication 
of  the  fact  already  noted  that  the  industry  from  the  start 
had  some  of  the  characteristics  of  a  close  corporation. 

The  third  fact  of  interest  with  reference  to  the  capitaliza- 
tion of  the  industry  is  that  frequently,  as  some  special  de- 
partment of  the  industry  acquired  sufficient  importance  to 

*Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  320. 


86  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

occupy  a  separate  plant,  a  new  company  was  formed  to  cover 
that  department.  As  early  as  1840  the  making  of  brass 
butts  by  the  Scovill  Company  was  set  off  to  a  separate  firm. 
In  1846  the  American  Pin  Company  was  organized  jointly 
by  Benedict  &  Burnham  and  Brown  &  Elton.*  In  1849  the 
Waterbury  Button  Company  took  over  the  button  business 
of  Benedict  &  Burnham. f  In  1857  the  Waterbury  Clock 
Company  was  set  off  by  the  same  concern.^  And  as  late  as 
1880  the  famous  Waterbury  Watch  Company  was  organized 
as  an  offshoot  of  the  same  parent  stock.  In  1878  the 
Ansonia  Clock  Company  was  formed  to  take  over  the 
making  of  clocks  by  the  Ansonia  Brass  and  Copper  Com- 
pany. This  clock  company  is  now  one  of  the  largest  in  its 
line  in  the  country. 

All  of  the  older  concerns  began  as  partnerships.  The  law 
of  1837,  authorizing  the  organization  of  joint  stock  com- 
panies in  the  State,  defining  their  privileges  and  their 
powers,  was  a  notable  achievement  in  the  line  of  legislative 
encouragement  of  industry.  This  made  easy  and  practica- 
ble the  combining  of  capital  in  a  manufacturing  venture,  and 
the  brass  men  in  the  Naugatuck  valley  shortly  availed  them- 
selves of  the  privileges  secured.  The  first  brass  venture  to 
be  incorporated  was  the  Wolcottville  Brass  Company,  May 
19,  1841,  succeeding  the  partnership  formed  in  i834.§  The 
first  joint  stock  company  in  Waterbury  was  the  Benedict  & 
Burnham    Manufacturing   Company,  incorporated  January 

*See  page  60. 

fAnderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  298. 

$The  entire  capital  stock  of  the  clock  company,  representing  in- 
vested earnings  of  the  Benedict  &  Burnham  Company,  was  given 
as  a  dividend  to  the  stockholders  of  the  parent  concern. 

§"History  of  Torrington",  Orcutt,  p.  102. 


ORGANIZATION  87 

14,  1843.*  I"  1850  the  Scovill  Manufacturing  Company 
was  incorporated.  Brown  &  Elton  was  never  incorporated. 
In  1853  Brown  &  Brothers  was  incorporated  after  two  years 
as  a  partnership.  Before  the  incorporation  of  Holmes, 
Booth  &  Haydens  in  1853,  only  one  of  the  earlier  companies 
had  been  incorporated  from  the  start,  namely  the  Waterbury 
Brass  Company,  formed  in  1845. 

But  if  the  question  of  capital  was  important,  that  of  labor 
was  far  more  important.  At  the  very  beginning  the  members 
of  the  firm  had  personal  charge  of  the  bookkeeping  and  gen- 
eral management;  they  were  also  the  selling  agentsf  and 
moreover  were  the  foremen  and  machinists.  Members  of 
the  firm  worked  in  the  shops  directing  personally  the  opera- 
tions of  their  employees.:!:  They  drew  pay  as  their  employ- 
ees, expecting  to  receive  further  remuneration  from  the 
profits  of  the  enterprise.  The  training  of  a  force  of  skilled 
labor  was  a  matter  of  time  and  was  undertaken  under  great 
difficulty.  It  is  not  easy  to  teach  another  what  the  teacher 
does  not  know  himself ;  and  the  best  of  those  who  were  try- 
ing to  establish  the  new  industry  were  hardly  better  than  ex- 
perimenters. 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  brass  industry  was 
imported  from  England  in  machinery,  processes  and  labor. 
Except  for  Jerome's  application  of  rolled  brass  to  clock  mak- 
ing in  1837  and  the  perfection  of  the  pin  machine  and  stick- 
ing device  about  1840,  there  was  no  single  radically  im- 
proved machine  or  process  of  large  importance  invented  by 
purely  American  skill  until  Mr.  Hayden  invented  the  spin- 

*Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  297,  431. 
tSee  pp.  75,  76. 

tWhen  the  first  firm,  Abel  Porter  &  Company,  employed  altogether 
thirteen  workmen,  four  of  that  number  were  members  of  the  firm. 


88  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

ning  process  for  making  round  articles  from  sheet  brass, 
December  i6,  1851.  After  this  the  advance  in  manufactur- 
ing processes  inaugurated  by  native  ingenuity  was  real  and 
rapid ;  notably  first  in  connection  with  the  making  of  lamps 
and  fittings  for  burning  kerosene  oil,  and  later  with  the  use 
of  sheet  brass  for  ammunition  cases  and  many  other  appli- 
cations of  the  metal  to  marketable  wares. 

The  records  of  the  patent  office  reveal  the  fact  that  the 
inventive  ingenuity  of  Waterbury  men  was  not  in  striking 
evidence  until  after  1850.  Twenty-seven  patents  are 
recorded  as  granted  to  Waterbury  men  before  1850.  Of 
these  two  had  to  do  with  clock  making  and  four  to  the  but- 
ton manufacture.  On  the  other  hand,  during  the  decade 
185 1 -i860,  eighty-eight  patents  were  issued  to  Waterbury 
men,  of  which  the  most  important  were  in  connection  with 
the  brass  industry.*  And  in  1890  the  number  of  patents 
issued  to  residents  of  this  city  was  in  the  proportion  of  one 
to  405  of  the  population,  while  in  the  State  as  a  whole  the 
proportion  was  one  to  796,  and  Connecticut  stood  at  the  head 
of  all  the  states  in  this  particular.  It  is  apparent  that  in- 
ventive genius  was  active  at  the  center  of  the  brass  industry 
to  a  notable  degree. 

But  in  the  beginning  the  first  rolling  of  copper  in  this 
country  by  Paul  Revere  in  Canton,  Massachusetts,  was 
done  with  rolls  imported  from  England.  The  Soho  Cop- 
per Company,  established  in  Belleville,  N.  J.,  also  imported 
its  machinery  from  England.f  The  process  of  casting 
pewter  buttons  in  Waterbury  was  learned  from  an  English- 
man. Both  of  the  earliest  enterprises  depended  for  their 
final  success  upon  English  machinery  and  English  skill. 

♦Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  471-472. 

fSee  page  43.  "100  years  of  Amer.  Commerce",  C.  M.  Depew, 
article  by  A.  A.  Cowles,  Vol.  I,  p.  333. 


ORGANIZATION  89 

Leavenworth,  Hayden  &  Scovill  dated  their  real  begin- 
ning of  success  from  1820,  when  Mr.  James  Croft,  an  Eng- 
lishman, entered  their  employ.  After  remaining  with  them 
one  year  he  was  secured  by  Mr.  Benedict  and  in  1829  he  be- 
came one  of  the  partners  of  the  firm  of  Benedict  &  Coe,  then 
organized.  It  was  largely  due  to  the  advice  and  encourage- 
ment of  Mr.  Croft  that  the  venture  was  continued.  Trained 
in  the  art  of  making  gilt  buttons  in  Birmingham,  England, 
he  was  the  first  workman  of  technical  skill  whose  name 
appears  in  connection  with  the  infant  industry.  His  knowl- 
edge of  the  needs  of  the  business  here  and  as  well  of  con- 
ditions in  Birmingham  led  Mr.  Benedict  to  send  him  seven 
times  to  England  for  tools  and  workmen.*  It  was  Mr.  Croft 
who  secured  for  his  employer  the  machinery  which  enabled 
him  to  compete  successfully  with  the  older  firm,  Leaven- 
worth, Hayden  &  Scovill. 

Mr.  Israel  Holmes  made  three  trips  to  England  in  search 
of  machinery  and  labor.  The  first  was  in  1822,  after  Mr. 
Croft  had  left  the  Scovill  shop  for  Mr.  Benedict,  when  the 
older  firm  saw  that  they  needed  skilled  workmen  and  im- 
proved machinery.  At  the  time  the  laws  of  England,  in 
order  to  prevent  enterprising  manufacturers  in  the  United 
States  and  elsewhere  from  profiting  from  the  industrial  de- 
velopment of  the  island,  forbade  under  heavy  penalties  the 
exportation  of  machinery  or  models  and  the  enticing  away 
of  workmen  from  their  employers.  Mr.  Holmes  offered  an 
excessive  price  for  machinery  needed  and  so  obtained 
through  the  manufacturers  permission  to  export  it.  He 
then  endeavored  to  secure  workmen  and  finally  after  much 
cautious  effort  he  assembled  a  party  of  men  who  with  their 
families  numbered  a  full  score.     The  outcome  of  the  ven- 

*Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  315. 


90  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

ture  was  improved  machinery  for  the  Scovills  and  an  expert 
die-sinker,  gilder  and  burnisher.* 

Again  in  183 1,  after  the  new  firm  of  Holmes  &  Hotchkiss 
was  established,  Mr.  Holmes  made  a  second  trip  to  England 
and  secured  the  machinery  and  skilled  labor  needed  for  the 
new  plantf 

His  third  visit  was  in  connection  with  his  venture  in  1834 
with  Mr.  Coe,  Mr.  Phelps  and  others  in  the  making  of  brass 
kettles  in  Wolcottville.  By  this  time  the  English  govern- 
ment was  thoroughly  aroused  to  the  danger  which  his  pres- 
ence involved.  At  first  he  hired  two  men,  one  of  whom  died 
in  Philadelphia  the  day  after  his  arrival,  and  the  other  never 
reached  Wolcottville.  He  continued,  however,  until  he  had 
gathered  a  company  of  thirty-eight,  including  all  of  the 
members  of  families  engaged.  After  great  difficulty  in 
escaping  from  those  who  were  seeking  to  enforce  the  law, 
he  got  his  company  out  of  the  country  and  landed  them  at 
Hartford.  This  was  the  largest  band  secured  by  any  of  the 
brass  men  at  one  time.  The  company  went  by  road  to  Wol- 
cottville to  find  that  the  mill  was  not  ready.  It  was  impossi- 
ble to  keep  all  of  the  men  together,  but  enough  remained  to 
establish  the  industry.  However,  the  final  success  of  the 
venture  was  not'  achieved  until  after  1842,  when  Mr.  Coe 
visited  the  only  two  known  kettle  factories,  one  in  Prussia 
and  the  other  in  Birmingham,  and  secured  the  right  metal 
mixture  and  the  proper  annealing  process.^ 

Again,  in  1836,  Mr.  Phelps  fitted  out  his  Derby  mill  with 
machinery  secured  in  England  and  obtained  some  workmen 
there.    Also  the  same  year  the  formula  for  German  silver 

♦Anderson,  Vol.  II,  pp.  322-323. 

tSee  page  52. 

^Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  302.     See  page  55. 


ORGANIZATION  91 

was  bought  from  an  Englishman  by  a  workman  employed 
in  a  shop  which  depended  for  its  success  upon  English 
sources.* 

Besides  these  efforts  which  were  made  to  persuade  Eng- 
lish workmen  to  come  to  the  Naugatuck  Valley  and  to  assist 
in  the  organization  of  the  brass  industry,  many  individuals 
came  thither  of  their  own  initiative.  Mr.  Croft  himself  was 
one  such,  quite  probably  coming  to  America  with  no  deliber- 
ate intention  of  making  direct  and  effective  use  of  his  early 
training.  Mr.  Wallace,  who  was  of  great  assistance  to  Mr. 
Phelps  in  his  Derby  venture  and  who  later  organized  Wal- 
lace &  Sons  in  Ansonia,  was  a  wire  drawer  trained  in 
Birmingham  and  had  been  in  this  country  in  various  places 
for  nine  years  before  he  came  to  Derby.f 

By  no  means  all  of  those  who  were  enticed  away  from 
their  native  land  were  competent  workmen.  On  one  oc- 
casion it  was  found  that  an  Englishman  whom  Mr.  Holmes 
had  secured  in  183 1  for  Holmes  &  Hotchkiss  was  unruly  and 
intractable.  His  passage  was  paid  back  to  England  in  order 
to  prevent  any  competitor  from  securing  his  services. 

Again,  the  Englishmen  appreciating  the  importance  of 
their  knowledge  and  skill,  in  many  instances  refused  to 
instruct  native  apprentices.  The  wire  drawers  whom  Mr. 
Holmes  first  secured  for  Holmes  &  Hotchkiss  refused  to 
allow  apprentices  near  their  machines  while  they  were  in 
operation.  For  several  years  the  English  kettlemen  in 
Wolcottville  insisted  upon  occupying  a  separate  building 
into  which  no  American  was  allowed  to  enter.  But  the 
alertness,  ingenuity  and  skill  which  had  called  the  industry 
into  being  was  not  so  easily  baffled,  and  before  long  a  force 

*See  pages  i:^,  34. 
fSee  page  63. 


92  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

of  workmen  was  trained  which  was  able  to  handle  the  busi- 
ness which  might  be  offered. 

The  last  important  process  which  was  secured  in  England 
was  that  of  making  seamless  tubing.  This  process  had  been 
invented  in  England  in  1838.*  In  1848  a  party  of  Boston 
men  sent  an  engineer  to  England,  who  by  the  payment  of  a 
large  sum  of  money  secured  the  desired  knowledge.f  The 
American  Tube  Works  was  organized  in  Boston  in  1850  to 
make  use  of  the  new  process.  But  at  that  time  the  Water- 
bury  men  were  in  a  position  to  manufacture  tubing  at  a 
greater  advantage  than  the  Boston  company,  and  while  that 
company  has  continued  in  operation,  yet  the  process  was  soon 
learned  by  the  men  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley  and  a  large  pro- 
duction of  tubing  has  been  made.  Now  the  output  of  tubing, 
both  seamless  and  brazed,  is  an  important  item.  The  English 
process  was  to  cast  a  cylinder  of  brass  and  then  to  draw 
it  over  steel  arbors.  This  is  still  in  general  use,  but  the 
effort  is  now  being  made  to  draw  tubing  directly  from  solid 
ingots  of  metal. 

While  thus  before  1840  the  brass  industry  in  America  was 
practically  dependent  both  upon  English  machinery  and 
upon  English  skill,  yet  during  the  following  decade  it 
became  thoroughly  acclimated  and  after  1850  it  forged 
clearly  ahead  of  the  English  shops.  To-day,  owing  in  part 
to  the  fineness  of  the  copper  and  zinc  which  are  here  mined, 
as  well  as  to  the  ingenuity  and  skill  of  American  labor,  the 
Connecticut  mills  in  fineness  of  work  and  of  finish  rank  at 
the  head  of  all  those  in  any  land  in  this  industry. 

♦"British  Manufacturing  Industries",  Bevan,  article  by  Graham,  p. 
148. 

t"ioo  years  of  Amer.  Commerce",  C.  M.  Depew,  article  by  Cowles, 
Vol.  I,  p.  335- 


ORGANIZATION  93 

From  the  first  the  labor  in  the  rolling  and  wire  mills  has 
been  male.  In  the  manufacturing  departments,  especially 
in  the  smaller  and  finer  wares,  females  have  been  freely 
employed.  In  the  rolling  mills  the  work  is  too  harsh  and 
heavy  for  women. 

Owing  to  special  conditions  which  have  prevailed  from 
the  beginning  no  scale  of  wages  has  ever  been  adopted  in  the 
brass  mills.  There  has  never  been  any  serious  or  general 
strife  over  the  question  of  wages  or  of  conditions  of  labor 
in  the  history  of  the  industry.  No  labor  union  or  other  com- 
bination of  the  skilled  labor  in  the  industry  has  ever  been 
effected. 

At  the  very  beginning,  as  has  been  noted,  the  proprietors 
were  the  skilled  mechanics,  if  the  term  may  be  allowed  by 
contrast.  In  the  years  from  1830  to  1850  there  were, 
roughly,  three  classes  of  labor;  the  proprietors  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  management,  the  English  mechanics  and  native 
helpers.  By  1850  the  supplanting  of  the  English  mechanics 
by  American  workmen,  who  had  either  been  taught  or  had 
by  themselves  developed  skill,  had  been  generally  accom- 
plished. 

To  the  present  time  the  number  of  skilled  men  is  compara- 
tively small.  The  division  between  skilled  and  unskilled 
labor  is  now  sharply  defined.  A  skilled  caster,  drawer  or 
roller  will  have  from  two  to  five  unskilled  laborers  under 
him.  A  considerable  amount  of  intelligence  and  ingenuity 
being  required,  the  skilled  labor  is  of  a  high  grade.  From 
1850  to  1870  native  Americans  predominated.  Now,  while 
a  few  Americans  remain,  yet  the  best  positions  in  the  mills 
are  more  generally  occupied  by  the  higher  grade  of  immi- 
grants of  the  second  generation.  The  policy  generally 
adopted  by  the  mills  has  been  to  pay  skilled  laborers  high 


94  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

wages.  The  result  has  been  to  attach  these  closely  to  the 
plant  in  which  they  were  employed.  Many  own  their  homes 
and  are  in  very  comfortable  circumstances.  The  unskilled 
labor,  at  the  first  American,  became  Irish  after  1850,  and 
has  since  followed  the  successive  waves  of  immigration. 

As  early  as  1835,  ^^  it  was  found  that  the  kettlemen  at 
Wolcottville  were  unwilling  to  train  apprentices,  the  system 
was  adopted  of  regulating  their  pay  by  the  pound  of  product. 
Under  this  stimulus  they  were  persuaded  to  employ  Ameri- 
can helpers.  This  system  of  paying  a  skilled  mechanic  a 
fixed  price  per  unit  of  product  still  obtains  in  some  depart- 
ments. The  mechanic  then  hires  his  own  helpers,  using 
machinery  furnished  by  the  proprietors.  This  system, 
together  with  the  fact  that  individual  skill  plays  such  a  large 
part  in  the  value  of  some  workmen,  has  made  a  uniform 
wage  scale  impracticable.  The  first  American  helpers  were 
paid  twenty  dollars  a  month,  this  being  increased  to  a  dollar 
a  day  by  1850.  After  the  war  the  wages  of  skilled 
mechanics  were  raised  to  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  day,  and 
have  varied  since  then,  running  up  to  five  and  six  dollars  a 
day  in  exceptional  cases.  Unskilled  labor  has  received 
wages  also  varying  in  amount  with  the  value  of  the  service 
rendered,  but  usually  averaging  about  the  market  rate  for 
such  labor.  Between  1850  and  i860  the  helpers  received  a 
dollar  to  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  a  day ;  since  1870  from  a  dol- 
lar and  a  quarter  to  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  day. 

The  system  adopted  has  tended  to  the  development  of 
specialization  and  unusual  skill  in  the  head  mechanics.  To 
this  day  some  of  the  men  having  in  hand  some  special  line 
of  work  are  reluctant  or  absolutely  refuse  to  impart  their 
special  skill  to  others. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  in  the  early  years  of  the 


ORGANIZATION  95 

industry  the  profit  was  large.*  The  fact  that  the  proprietors 
drew  wages  at  a  fixed  rate  and  then  allowed  their  profits 
beyond  their  immediate  needs  to  accumulate  in  the  business 
both  made  the  accumulation  of  capital  comparatively  easy 
and  also  in  part  concealed  the  profits  of  the  enterprise. 

The  selling  price  of  the  product  of  the  brass  mills 
has  been  determined  in  part  by  the  market  price 
of  copper.  In  the  decade  from  1840  to  1850,  when  the 
business  first  came  to  notable  proportions,  at  times  sheet 
brass  and  wire  sold  delivered  at  the  market  for  three  times 
the  price  of  copper.  When  manufactured  into  buttons, 
kettles,  pins  and  other  wares,  the  selling  price  of  the  prod- 
uct was  even  higher  than  this  The  labor  cost  for  sheet 
brass  was  not  over  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  price  of  copper  and 
probably  for  many  wares  the  labor  cost  was  not  more  than 
equal  to  the  cost  of  the  raw  material.  This  indicates  clear 
profits  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  over  the  cost  of  raw  mate- 
rial and  of  labor.  It  is  probable  that  at  times  this  profit 
was  realized.f 

After  1850  competition  became  more  keen  and  profits 
were  lessened.  Still  until  1870  sheet  brass  and  wire  were 
sold  at  least  on  occasions  twice  the  market  price  of  copper. 
After  this  date,  however,  the  selling  price  of  the  product  of 
the  mills  fell  quite  rapidly  in  its  relation  to  the  price  of  cop- 
per. Competition  became  more  keen.  At  times  importa- 
tions, notwithstanding  the  duty  of  35%,  were  large.  From 
1870  to  1885  consumption  gradually  increased,  yet  an  over- 
production was  hardly  prevented  even  by  strict  pooling 
agreements. 

*See  page  51. 

fAllowance  in  this  estimate  is  not  made  for  charges  for  interest, 
operation  of  the  plant,  depreciation  and  to  a  degree  for  transporta- 
tion. 


96  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

The  price  of  copper  has  varied  somewhat  from  time  to 
time.  Until  i860,  when  the  domestic  supply  began  to  com- 
mand the  market,  it  had  run  from  fifteen  to  thirty  cents  a 
pound.  Zinc  had  been  more  steady,  averaging  about  ten 
cents  a  pound.  Through  this  period  the  price  of  sheet 
brass,  which  about  1840  had  been  as  high  as  sixty  or  eighty 
cents,  transportation  included,  worked  gradually  down  to 
from  thirty-five  to  fifty  cents  a  pound  from  1855  to  i860. 
The  price  depended  upon  the  thickness  of  the  sheet.  The 
thinner  the  sheet,  the  higher  the  price.  At  this  time  brass 
wire  was  from  thirty-five  to  forty  cents  a  pound.  Copper  wire 
usually  commanded  about  ten  cents  more  than  brass  wire. 
From  i860  to  1875  the  price  of  copper  was  subject  to  the 
fluctuations  which  prevailed  in  all  commodities  and  varied 
from  forty-six  cents  in  1864  to  twenty  cents  at  the  end  of 
the  period.  The  margin  of  profit  in  the  brass  mills  had 
been  lowered  by  this  time  and  the  price  of  brass  followed 
the  price  of  copper.  For  twenty  years  after  1875  the 
tendency  of  both  copper  and  brass  was  toward  lower  prices. 
The  expanding  production  of  copper  from  the  mines  of 
Montana  and  Arizona  more  than  kept  pace  with  consump- 
tion. But  after  1895  the  largely  increased  use  of  copper  for 
electrical  machinery  consumed  surplus  stocks  and  made 
speculation  in  the  price  of  the  metal  possible.  There  have 
been  two  periods  of  such  speculation,  when  the  price  was 
artificially  raised,  once  in  1901  and  again  in  1904.  Except 
for  such  fluctuation  the  price  of  copper  has  held  at  between 
ten  and  fifteen  cents.  The  price  of  zinc  has  been  more 
steady  throughout  the  period  under  review,  having  been 
from  seven  to  ten  cents,  gradually  dropping  to  five  cents, 
as  production  has  run  a  little  ahead  of  consumption. 
To-day  the  price  of  sheet  brass  and  of  wire  in  the  coarser 


ORGANIZATION  97 

grades  runs  a  little  above  the  cost  of  the  alloy.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  price  of  copper  and  of  zinc  in  the  propor- 
tion in  which  the  two  metals  enter  into  the  composition  of 
brass  is  the  measure  of  the  profit  now  gained.  In  the  finer 
grades  of  sheets  and  of  wire  the  labor  cost  increases  rapidly 
and  prices  vary  accordingly.  The  prices  of  the  various 
manufactured  products  are  fixed  by  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand.  Patent  rights,  secret  processes,  special  machinery, 
all  enter  into  the  question  of  final  profit.  This  varies  with 
the  special  conditions  of  the  market. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Later  Developments. 

Review  of  growth  and  development.    The  telegraph  and  electricity. 
The  metallic  case  cartridge.     Coinage.    Foreign  trade. 

NOW  as  the  beginning  and  establishment  of  the  brass 
industry  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley  has  been  traced 
it  will  be  in  order  to  note  its  later  development. 

In  the  early  years  of  button  making,  after  1810,  it  was 
necessary  for  Mr.  J.  M.  L.  Scovill,  then  of  Leavenworth, 
Hayden  &  Scovill,  to  make  a  monthly  trip  to  the  rolling 
mill  at  Bradleyville  to  secure  the  rolling  of  the  metal 
needed.*  In  1822,  the  last  year  in  which  the  making  of 
rolled  brass  buttons  was  carried  on  by  this  firm  alone,  the 
output  was  about  twenty  gross  a  day.f  By  1843  there  were 
located  in  Waterbury  three  factories  for  the  rolling  of  brass, 
the  Scovills,  Benedict  &  Burnham,  and  Brown  &  Elton. 
These  employed  together  perhaps  six  hundred  hands:]:  and 
used  250  tons  of  copper  a  year.§ 

By  1855  the  industry  had  extended  to  Ansonia  on  the 
south  and  to  Torrington  on  the  north,  with  a  total  annual 
consumption  of  copper  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley  of  about 
2,000  tons.  As  has  been  noted,  at  this  time  the  Waterbury 
Brass  Company  was  the  most  important  single  concern. 
This  company  controlled  two  plants  and  was  thought  to  be 

*"History  of  Waterbury",  Bronson,  p.  429. 
t'Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  276. 
t"The  New  England  Gazetteer",  Hayward. 

§"100  years  of  Amer.  Commerce",  Depew,  article  by  Cowles,  Vol. 
I,  P-  332. 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS  99 

the  largest  in  the  trade  in  the  country.  Its  gross  output  was 
about  300  tons  of  metal  a  year,  or  not  quite  a  ton  each  work- 
ing day. 

By  1867  the  amount  of  copper  used  in  the  Valley  had 
risen  to  6,000  tons  a  year.  At  this  time  the  Ansonia  Brass 
and  Copper  Company,  handling  about  1,250  tons  of  metal  a 
year,  had  come  to  be  the  largest  single  concern.  When  just 
after  1870  this  company  was  able  to  report  that  250  tons  of 
metal  had  passed  through  its  mills  in  one  month,  this  was 
thought  to  be  a  notable  achievement.  This  same  concern 
has  in  recent  years  handled  more  than  2,500  tons 
of  metal  in  one  month.  In  one  of  the  mills  controlled 
by  this  company  are  located  what  are  thought  to 
be  the  heaviest  rolls  in  the  country  or  in  the  world  de- 
voted to  the  rolling  of  brass,  72  inches  long  and  24  inches 
in  diameter.  The  heaviest  rolls  for  copper  in  the  Valley  are 
also  in  the  hands  of  this  company,  120  inches  long.  Longer 
copper  rolls  than  these,  however,  are  owned  by  the  Soho 
Copper  Company,  156  inches  long  and  30  inches  in  diameter. 

The  casting  of  copper  and  of  brass,  as  has  already  been 
noticed,  is  an  art  which  is  relatively  independent  of  machin- 
ery and  of  the  factory  system  and  has  never  been  localized  as 
is  the  rolling  of  brass.*  The  rolling  of  copper  requires  no 
mixture  of  metal  and  except  in  its  finer  forms  its  technique 
of  manufacture  is  much  less  demanding,  and  hence  this  also 
has  never  been  localized  as  is  the  rolling  of  brass. 

*See  p.  44.  In  the  years  named,  according  to  the  census  returns, 
the  following  is  the  percentage  of  the  total  production  of  brass  cast- 
ing and  finishing  in  the  United  States  which  proceeded  from  the 
State  of  Connecticut:  1880,  10%;  1890,  30%;  1900,  31%;  1905,  10%. 
Of  brass  casting  and  finishing  in  Conn.,  the  following  proceeded 
from  Waterbury:  1890,  50%;  1900,  88%;  1905,  82%. 


100  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  since  1869,  when  the  association 
was  organized  from  which  the  Plume  &  Atwood  Manufac- 
turing Company  has  developed,  until  1900,  only  two  new 
concerns  which  are  to-day  in  operation  have  been  organized 
in  the  Naugatuck  Valley.  One  of  those,  Randolph  & 
Clowes,  began  business  in  1886  in  order  to  make  use  of  the 
plant  of  Brown  &  Brothers,  which  corporation  was  at  that 
time  in  liquidation.  The  other  new  company  is  the  Sey- 
mour Manufacturing  Company,  located  at  Seymour,  organ- 
ized in  1878  and  now  doing  a  good  business. 

From  the  first  Waterbury  has  been  the  recognized  center 
in  the  country  of  the  brass  industry,  and  within  the  city 
itself  this  has  of  course  been  the  leading  industry.  In  1858 
there  were  in  Waterbury  thirty-two  corporations  or  partner- 
ships, of  which  twenty-five  were  in  the  brass  business,*  In 
1873  there  were  thirty-five  joint  stock  companies  within  the 
city,  of  which  twenty-seven  were  in  the  brass  business.f  In 
1896  there  were  one  hundred  and  eight  corporations  located 
in  the  city,  of  which  thirty-nine,  the  largest  single  group, 
were  in  the  metal  working  business.^  According  to  the 
census  returns,§  in  1890,  31%  of  the  brassware  in  the 
United  States  and  40%  of  the  brassware  of  Connecticut 
came  from  Waterbury.  In  1900,  48%  of  the  brassware  of 
the  country  and  88%  of  the  brassware  of  the  state  came 
from  Waterbury.  For  1905  the  corresponding  figures  are 
42%  and  82%. 

The  development  of  the  industry  may  well  be  seen  from 
the  following  figures  relative  to  the  operations  of  a  typical 

*"History  of  Waterbury",  Bronson,  pp.  561-563. 

fSee  City  Directory,  Waterbury,  1873. 

t'Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  433. 

§See  criticism  of  census  schedules  on  pages  2,  3. 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS  101 

concern,   the   Scovill   Manufacturing  Company,    from   the 
date  of  its  incorporation.* 

1850     i860     1870     1880     1892 


Number  of  employees.  . .  .    190       193       338       399     1,200 
Horse  power  used 80      200       200       340     1,400 

In  1907  the  company  employed  about  3,500  hands. 

In  1880  the  Benedict  &  Burnham  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany reported  that  it  was  using  400  steam  horse  power  and 
two  water  wheels  and  employed  600  hands.f 

In  1884  the  gross  weight  of  metal  used  in  the  Naugatuck 
Valley  had  risen  to  20,000  tons,  increasing  in  1895  to  110,000 
tons,  in  1903  to  160,000  tons  and  in  1907  to  200,000  tons.| 

The  rapid  increase  in  the  consumption  of  copper  after 
1885  was  due  to  the  demand  for  electrical  purposes.  To-day 
nearly  one-half  of  the  total  consumption  of  copper  in  the 
United  States  is  used  for  wire  for  electricity  And  this  wire 
is  largely  produced  in  the  mills  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley. 

It  was  in  June,  1844,  that  Professor  S.  F.  B.  Morse  con- 
structed his  first  telegraph  line  from  Washington  to  Balti- 
more. §  At  the  first  copper  wire  was  used  exclusively  and 
the  wire  mills  in  Waterbury  and  Ansonia  were  the  only 
ones  in  this  country  which  could  supply  this  material.  But 
later  various  cheaper  substitutes  for  copper  were  used  and 

*Scientific  American,  Dec.  13,  1879,  Vol.  41,  p.  380.  "Town  and 
City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  II,  p.  275-278. 

fScientific  American,  May  i,  1880,  Vol.  42,  p.  277. 

^To  some  extent  metal  is  figured  twice  in  this  gross  output;  as 
the  product  of  rolling  mills,  and  again  as  brassware,  the  manufac- 
tured product. 

§"History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  II,  p.  408. 


102  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

the  more  imperative  demand  for  electrical  appliances  did 
not  arise  until  after  1880.  The  telephone  and  the  trolley 
consume  vast  quantities  of  copper  wire.  At  present  elec- 
trical machinery  and  devices  demand  copper  sheets  of  such 
fineness  and  exactness  of  measure  that  the  rolling  of  copper 
has  become  a  much  nicer  operation  than  it  was  in  the  earlier 
days.  To  roll  copper  to  the  thinness  which  is  now  required 
demands  rolls  of  a  fine  finish  and  skill  to  a  high  degree. 

One  other  application  of  brass  to  marketable  wares  which 
at  the  time  contributed  largely  to  the  business  of  the  rolling 
mills  must  also  be  noticed.  This  new  demand  came  just  at 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War  and  was  of  large  assistance  to  the 
industry  at  that  critical  period.  It  is  noteworthy  that  at  the 
time  of  the  three  earlier  important  commercial  crises  the  in- 
dustry met  conditions  which  particularly  favored  it.  It  was 
in  1837  that  Jerome  perfected  his  rolled  brass  clock.  This 
occasioned  an  immediate  and  largely  increased  demand  for 
brass.  While  the  Derby  copper  mill  just  established  and 
the  Waterbury  men  felt  the  distress  incident  to  the  commer- 
cial crisis,  yet  they  were  able  to  continue  in  operation.  In 
1857  a  real  and  extensive  market  had  been  established.  By 
this  time  the  domestic  demand  was  well  known  and  the  mills 
in  the  Naugatuck  Valley  were  alone  able  to  supply  that  de- 
mand. While  for  a  time  the  mills  ran  light,  yet  the  various 
companies  agreed  to  sustain  prices  and  so  divided  up  the 
production  that  no  one  suffered  severely.  And  in  1873  the 
demand  for  rolled  brass  which  arose  in  connection  with  the 
making  of  the  metal  case  cartridge  was  an  important  factor 
in  enabling  the  rolling  mills  to  face  unfavorable  conditions. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  not  a  single  brass  mill  was  com- 
pelled to  undergo  liquidation  in  either  of  the  three  earlier 
crises.     Later,  in  1883  and  1893,  when  the  margin  of  profit 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS  103 

had  been  reduced  and  when  competition  was  more  keen,  the 
rolHng  mills  did  not  so  universally  escape.* 

The  first  metallic  cartridge  was  made  just  after  1861  by 
Smith  &  Wesson  in  Springfield,  Masssachusetts.  But  this 
firm  was  more  interested  and  skilled  in  the  handling  of  am- 
munition than  in  the  making  and  rolling  of  brass.  The  de- 
mand for  arms  and  ammunition  was  very  imperative  and 
they  abandoned  their  experiments.  The  Waterbury  Brass 
Company  took  up  the  matter  and  continued  the  effort  to 
find  and  to  use  a  metal  mixture  which  was  adapted  to  this 
purpose.  In  1863  Lyman  W.  Coe,  the  son  of  Israel  Coe, 
went  out  from  the  Waterbury  Brass  Company  and,  purchas- 
ing the  plant  of  the  Wolcottville  Brass  Company,  organized 
the  Coe  Brass  Company  and  applied  himself  specifically  to 
this  problem.  Here  complete  success  was  attained  and 
later  the  Coe  Brass  Company  thus  established  expanded  its 
business  and  is  now  one  of  the  leading  factors  in  the  trade. 
It  appears  that  between  1890  and  1895  the  Coe  mill  at  Tor- 
rington  operated  some  of  the  heaviest  machinery  in  the 
world  used  for  the  rolling  of  brass  and  was  the  most  impor- 
tant plant  in  the  country  devoted  exclusively  to  the  rolling  of 
metal  and  the  drawing  of  wire. 

After  1870  the  business  of  rolling  metal  for  ammunition 
cases  was  taken  up  by  other  mills  and  for  a  few  years  was  a 
very  important  item  in  their  trade.  In  i860  8%  of  the 
national  product  of  ammunition  came  from  Connecticut.     In 

♦Before  i860  the  Wolcottville  Brass  Co.  was  the  only  one  which 
found  itself  in  a  critical  condition,  and  this  was  due  not  to  a  com- 
mercial crisis,  but  to  the  invention  of  the  spinning  process  and  the 
subsequent  securing  of  its  workmen  by  A.  G.  Phelps.  See  page  55. 
Later  Brown  &  Bros,  was  liquidated  in  1886,  and  Wallace  &  Sons 
in  1895.     See  pages  63,  64. 


104  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

1870  this  proportion  had  risen  to  85%  and  in  1880  to  90%. 
Since  that  time  the  making  of  ammunition  has  been  rela- 
tively less  important,  Connecticut's  contribution  falling  to 
59%  in  1890,  rising  again  to  75%  in.  1905. 

One  incident  in  connection  with  the  story  of  the  brass  in- 
dustry remains  to  be  noticed ;  one  of  not  large  consequence 
to  the  industry  itself,  but  one  of  practically  universal  per- 
sonal interest. 

The  first  copper  coinage  of  the  United  States  Government 
was  undertaken  by  Connecticut  men  and  was  continued  by 
the  Scovill  Company  in  Waterbury.  As  early  as  1737  one 
Joseph  Higley  made  a  set  of  dies  and  struck  from  copper 
from  the  Granby  mine  the  first  copper  coin  made  in 
America.*  These  have  almost  entirely  disappeared,  but  for 
a  time  they  passed  current  over  a  large  part  of  New  Eng- 
land. 

On  October  18,  1785,  Joseph  Hopkins  of  Waterbury  with 
four  New  Haven  associates  applied  to  the  State  legislature 
for  permission  to  coin  coppers,  alleging  a  scarcity  of  small 
coins  in  the  State.  He  was  given  the  privilege  of  making 
copper  coins  not  to  exceed  in  value  i  10,000.  This  privilege 
was  variously  conveyed  until  June  i,  1787,  when  it  was  re- 
voked. Up  to  that  time  some  29,000  pounds  of  copper  cents 
had  been  issued,  valued  at  nearly  £4,ooo.t  Granby  copper 
was  used  in  the  main  for  this  coinage.  A  contract  was  en- 
tered into  in  1787  with  the  United  States  Government  for 

*"Coins,  medals  and  seals",  Prime,  pp.  70-72.  "Newgate  of  Conn.", 
Phelps,  pp.  15-17.  "History  Amer.  Mfrs.",  Bishop,  Vol.  I,  p.  510. 
New  Haven  Colony  Historical  Society  Papers,  Vol.  I,  1865,  Pt.  H, 
p.  181. 

fNew  Haven  Colony  Historical  Society  Papers,  Vol.  I,  1865,  Pt.  H, 
p.  176.  "Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  HI,  pp. 
1054-1055. 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS  105 

the  coinage  of  300  tons  of  copper  coin.  This  contract  was 
never  filled. 

Later  on,  in  1834,  it  was  the  Scovill  Company,  doubtless 
with  this  earlier  history  in  mind,  which  challenged  the  ex- 
clusive right  of  the  United  States  Government  to  issue 
coins.  During  the  next  seven  years  many  tokens  were 
issued  by  them  of  nearly  two  hundred  different  designs.* 
The  most  of  these  were  stamped  from  sheet  copper,  although 
a  few  were  alloyed  with  tin.  These  passed  as  current  coin 
even  after  their  manufacture  ceased.  In  1842  the  issue  was 
enjoined  by  the  Government.  After  1866  the  Scovill  Com- 
pany furnished  the  United  States  mint  with  blanks  for  the 
three  cent  nickel  and  after  1890  with  blanks  for  the  one  cent 
bronze  and  five  cent  nickel  coins.  Many  coins,  both  blanks 
and  fully  stamped,  have  been  issued  by  the  Scovills  and  by 
others  for  many  South  American  states.f 

The  most  notable  achievement  in  the  history  of  the  coun- 
try in  the  line  of  medal  making  was  when  the  Scovill  Com- 
pany furnished  the  full  set  of  medals,  23,757  ^'^  number,  for 
the  Columbian  Exposition  of  1893.  These  were  particu- 
larly rich  and  full  in  design,  and  special  machinery  and 
processes  were  devised  for  their  manufacture.^ 

The  brass  manufacturers  have  been  content  in  the  main 
with  the  effort  to  supply  home  consumption.  As  the  nation 
has  grown  and  as  industry  has  developed,  the  consumption 
of  copper  with  brass  and  other  alloys  has  naturally  increased 
and  many  new  uses  for  various  alloys  have  been  found.     To 

*"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury,  Anderson,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  1057- 

1059- 

f'Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  1059. 

$"Town  and  City  of  Waterbury",  Anderson,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  1060- 
1061. 


106  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

supply  this  home  demand  has  been  the  effort  of  the  rolling 
mills.  The  foreign  trade  generally  has  not  figured  to  any 
large  extent  in  the  business. 

For  the  year  ending  September  30,  1823,  brass  manufac- 
tures at  an  invoice  value  of  $259,214  were  imported.*  For 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1845,  such  imports  are  returned  as 
$120,083.^  The  same  year  the  value  of  brass  manufactures 
in  the  State  of  Connecticut  was  returned  as  $1,126,494. 
From  1840  to  the  present  time  imports  of  brass  ware  have 
generally  been  a  negligible  quantity.  During  the  period 
from  1867  to  1893,  except  for  the  eight  years  from  1880  to 
1887  inclusive,  when  imports  of  brass  wares  averaged  $400,- 
000  a  year,  there  were  but  two  years,  1874  and  1875,  during 
which  the  invoice  value  of  brass  manufactures  equalled  the 
amount  reported  for  the  year  ending  September  30,  1823.$ 
With  the  exception  of  the  period  noted,  1880  to  1887,  im- 
ports have  not  averaged  one  per  cent,  of  the  total  consump- 
tion. 

It  was  during  the  period  excepted,  1880  to  1887,  that  the 
profits  of  the  industry  were  probably  smaller  than  at  any 
time  since  1840.  During  some  of  these  years  some  of  the 
largest  plants  were  operated  at  a  loss.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  Brown  &  Brothers  failed  and  Wallace  &  Sons  ran  so  far 
behind  that  later  liquidation  became  necessary.  Copper  was 
being  produced  in  larger  quantities  than  it  was  being  con- 
sumed, prices  were  falling  and  the  trade  was  generally  dis- 

*Report  of  Sec.  of  State,  Jan.  27,  1824:  made  to  i8th  Cong.,  ist. 
Session. 

fReport  of  Sec.  of  Treasury,  July  23,  1845 :  Senate  Doc.  444,  29th 
Cong.,  1st  Session. 

^''Imports  and  exports,  etc.",  March  14,  1894:  Senate  Report  No. 
259,  53rd  Congress,  2nd.  Session. 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS  107 

organized.  As  has  been  noted,  the  tariff  acted  at  this  time 
more  effectively  than  at  any  other  in  the  history  of  the  in- 
dustry in  discouraging  foreign  competition.  It  was  during 
these  years,  from  1870  to  1874,  and  from  1880  to  1887,  that 
the  imports  of  copper  and  its  manufactures,  and  of  zinc  and 
tin  as  well,  reached  the  highest  figures  in  the  history  of  the 
industry. 

The  first  entry  which  is  on  record  of  exports  of  copper 
and  brasswares  is  for  the  year  1791,  when  a  value  of  $493  is 
returned.  The  next  entry  bears  date  of  1803,  since  which 
time  such  exports  have  appeared  in  the  returns  of  each  year.* 

However,  the  amount  of  such  wares  which  were  exported 
was  not  large  until  after  1840.  At  this  time  the  only  item  of 
brass  manufactures  which  was  considerable  was  brass 
clocks.  This  contiued  until  1900  the  most  important  single 
manufacture  connected  with  the  brass  industry  which  was 
available  for  export.  In  the  decade  1861  to  1870  the  value 
of  clocks  and  parts  exported  was  more  than  ten  times  as 
great  as  that  of  all  other  brass  manufactures  combined. 
In  the  decade  1871  to  1880  the  export  value  of  clocks  was 
more  than  twice  as  great  as  that  of  all  other  brasswares  and 
during  the  next  decade  nearly  four  times  as  great.  Down 
to  1900  generally  the  export  value  of  clocks  has  been  more 
than  twice  as  large  as  that  of  all  other  brasswares  combined. 

Since  1900  a  consistent  effort  has  been  made  to  secure  a 
share  in  the  foreign  trade.  At  present  the  most  promising 
field  is  along  the  line  of  electrical  equipment.  The  purity  of 
the  metal  available,  together  with  the  high  degree  of  perfec- 
tion which  the  machinery  and  skill  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley 
mills  have  attained,  furnishes  a  product  which  it  is  believed 

*"Imports  and  exports",  March  14,  1894:  Senate  Report  259.    Also 
House  of  Rep.  Miscel.  Doc.  29,  March  3,  1883. 
8 


108  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

is  more  exact  in  scale  measure  and  possesses  a  higher  de- 
gree of  finish  than  can  be  obtained  elsewhere  in  the  world. 
The  development  of  this  electrical  demand  as  it  came  in  this 
country  after  1885  was  the  most  important  single  item 
which  has  ever  appeared  in  the  history  of  the  industry. 
While  the  metal  used  is  largely  copper,  yet  the  mills  in  Con- 
necticut were  better  equipped  than  any  other  to  meet  the 
demand  when  it  arose. 

The  perfection  of  the  brass  clock  and  the  making  of  Ger- 
man silver,  the  use  of  wire  for  the  making  of  pins  and  of 
hooks  and  eyes,  the  manufacture  of  tubing  and  of  photo- 
graphic plates,  the  invention  of  the  spinning  process  for 
making  hollow  ware,  the  development  of  the  burner  for  kero- 
sene oil,  the  development  of  the  rim  fire  cartridge  and  the 
electrical  demand  mark  the  successive  steps  of  large  conse- 
quence in  the  history  of  the  industry.  And  of  all  these  the 
possibility  of  the  application  of  electricity  to  industry  and 
the  demand  for  the  use  of  metal  in  large  quantity  in  this  con- 
nection is  easily  the  most  important. 

In  this  connection  certain  products  of  the  mills  have 
already  been  accorded  favorable  notice  in  the  world  markets. 
One  item  of  special  note  has  been  the  making  of  transmis- 
sion cables  for  high  power  electrical  plants.  Single  orders 
for  as  much  as  five  million  pounds  of  such  cables  have  been 
received  for  export.  It  is  believed  that  in  this  line  a  profita- 
ble trade  can  be  developed.  Also  in  certain  other  products 
of  the  brass  mills,  as  they  are  now  organized  to  handle  cop- 
per and  its  various  alloys,  it  is  confidently  expected  that  an 
export  trade  of  considerable  dimensions  can  be  secured. 

After  i860  the  export  trade  in  raw  metals,  copper  and 
zinc,  began  to  reach  large  proportions.  The  first  entry  of 
pig  copper  specifically  so  itemized  appears  in  1864.     From 


LATER  DEVELOPMENTS  109 

that  year  to  1870  an  average  value  of  over  $700,000  in  ore 
and  in  pig  copper  was  exported.  This  average  value  was 
more  than  doubled  during  the  next  decade,  increased  more 
than  three  times  again  from  1881  to  1890  and  since  has 
figured  largely  in  the  export  trade.  Since  1900,  including 
the  product  of  Canada  and  Mexico  which  is  marketed 
through  the  United  States,  raw  copper  exported  has 
amounted  to  250,000  short  tons  in  a  single  year,  which  at 
fourteen  cents  a  pound  reaches  a  respectable  figure.  This  is 
now  the  largest  single  item  of  export  in  the  metal  group. 
The  first  export  of  zinc  returned  is  95,738  pounds  in  1863. 
Except  for  the  years  1871  to  1876  and  1883  to  1889,  when 
as  already  noted  the  trade  was  somewhat  disorganized,  the 
export  of  zinc  has  been  large.  Now  it  runs  up  to  20,000  or 
25,000  tons  a  year. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Competition  and  Combination. 

Notable  development  of  the  brass  industry  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley. 
Factors  which  influenced  the  development.  Outside  competi- 
tion. Roll  of  mills  in  1895.  Pools  and  agreements.  American 
Brass  Company.     Review  and  conclusion. 

THUS  far  the  story  of  the  development  of  the  brass 
industry  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley  has  been  written 
from  the  outside,  as  it  were.  It  remains  to  consider 
conditions  from  the  inside,  to  indicate  in  a  measure  why  the 
industry  developed  as  it  did,  to  note  the  relation  of  the  differ- 
ent plants  to  each  other  and  the  action  which  was  taken  to 
control  the  market.  The  control  of  the  market  has  been 
extraordinarily  effective  from  the  very  first.  At  least  until 
1900  the  amount  of  rolled  brass  and  brass  wire  produced 
for  the  open  market  outside  of  the  Naugatuck  Valley  has 
been  a  negligible  quantity,  at  no  time  amounting  to  ten  per 
cent,  of  the  total  production. 

Within  the  Valley  certain  remarkable  facts  have  appeared. 
In  1870  there  were  from  Ansonia  to  Torrington  ten  brass 
mills  and  two  copper  mills.  Of  the  ten  brass  mills,  one  had 
been  organized  in  1869.  Of  the  other  nine,  seven  may  fairly 
be  placed  in  the  first  class.  The  other  two,  while  important, 
were  relatively  smaller.  Of  the  seven  first-class  mills,  five 
had  been  organized  in  the  twenty  years  from  1834  to  1853. 
And  from  1870  to  1900  only  one  additional  plant  was 
located. 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION  111 

Furthermore,  one  man,  Mr.  Israel  Holmes,  had  been  inti- 
mately connected  with  two  and  had  been  instrumental  in 
the  organization  of  two  more  of  the  seven  plants  of  first 
rank  and  had  been  active  in  the  organization  of  one  of  the 
two  smaller  plants  as  well  as  the  last  one  in  1869. 

Moreover,  if  one  had  after  1870  attended  the  stockholders' 
meetings  of  the  various  brass  companies,  of  the  subordinate 
concerns  as  well  as  of  the  rolling  mills,  he  would  have  met 
in  general  the  same  group  of  men.  For  example,  Mr.  J.  S. 
Elton  at  one  time  had  large  investments  in  four  of  the  larg- 
est mills,  as  well  as  in  many  subordinate  enterprises;  and 
Mr.  G.  W.  Burnham  was  a  large  holder  of  the  stock  of  at 
least  three  of  the  most  important  plants.  This  list  might  be 
indefinitely  extended. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  current  ideas  regarding  the  or- 
ganization of  industry  it  seems  quite  incomprehensible  that 
a  man  would  aid  in  the  establishment  of  a  new  plant  which 
might  compete  with  himself  as  the  owner  of  a  mill  already 
in  operation.  There  are,  however,  three  facts  which  may 
help  to  explain  the  development  as  it  actually  took  place. 

First:  certain  capitalists,  some  of  whom  had  found  the 
business  profitable,  believed  in  it.  They  believed  in  the 
present  and  in  the  future  of  the  brass  industry.  They 
argued  that  if  one  company  failed  another  might  succeed 
and  all  could  not  fail. 

Second:  personal  jealousies  and  internal  strife  caused  dis- 
sensions which  led  to  splits  in  associations  already  formed 
and  to  the  organization  of  new  enterprises. 

Third:  in  several  notable  instances  personal  ability  and 
genius  were  important  assets  in  a  given  undertaking. 

It  may  not  be  easy  to  differentiate  these  three  items,  but 
their  action  together  may  be  easily  illustrated.    For  example, 


112  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

Mr.  Israel  Holmes  possessed  an  unusual  notion  that  there 
were  very  definite  limits  to  advantageous  growth.  He  be- 
lieved that  the  limit  of  the  profitable  operation  of  an  existing 
plant  was  attained  when  a  certain  size  was  reached.  If  fur- 
ther development  was  to  be  had  a  new  organization  was 
necessary.  His  own  ability  as  an  organizer  and  a  salesman 
was  generally  recognized  as  of  a  commanding  order  and  he 
easily  persuaded  capitalists  to  finance  his  new  undertakings. 

Again  the  possession  of  certain  patents  relating  to  the  pin 
manufacture  had  a  direct  and  a  large  influence  upon  the 
demand  for  brass  wire.  The  single  invention  of  Mr.  H.  W. 
Hayden  of  the  spinning  process  affected  vitally  the  history 
of  four  concerns :  the  Wolcottville  Company  whose  business 
was  by  it  undermined ;  the  Brooklyn  Brass  Company  which 
failed  in  an  attempt  to  infringe  upon  it;  the  Waterbury 
Brass  Company  which  temporarily  became  one  of  the  most 
important  plants  in  the  Valley,  in  part  because  of  its  control 
of  this  patent ;  and  the  Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens  Company 
which  counted  as  one  of  its  most  valuable  assests  Mr.  Hay- 
den's  inventive  skill  which  had  been  thus  illustrated  and 
proved. 

The  action  of  some  of  the  influences  to  which  reference 
has  been  made  may  appear  in  connection  with  the  organiza- 
tion of  some  of  the  new  concerns.  At  the  start,  the  partner- 
ship which  later  became  the  Benedict  &  Burnham  Manufac- 
turing Company  was  organized  to  compete  with  the  older 
venture  simply  in  the  making  of  brass  buttons.  The  next 
concern,  which  became  Brown  &  Elton,  was  started  to  roll 
brass  and  to  draw  wire  for  market,  as  some  outside  demand 
had  appeared  at  this  time  and  the  two  older  firms  were  not 
directly  interested  in  it.  In  this  connection  Mr.  Holmes  ap- 
peared first  as  an  organizer,  as  he  left  the  Scovill  firm  to 


.^^^^^  y/^<^-7^^ 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION  113 

engage  in  this  new  enterprise.     His  restlessness,  together 
with  an  effort  to  make  brass  kettles,  was  a  large  factor  in  the 
establishment  of  the  next  enterprise,  the  Wolcottville  Brass 
Company.     Mr.  A.  G.  Phelps  started  the  venture  out  of  I 
which  the  Ansonia  Brass  and  Copper  Company  grew,  in  part/ 
because  of  a  disagreement  with  his  associates  at  Wolcottville  i 
and  in  part  as  an  effort  to  supply  his  trade  with  the  product  | 
of  his  own  mills  rather  than  to  depend  upon  importations,  i 
The  Waterbury  Brass  Company  was  born,  as  a  man  who  had  l 
a  water  privilege  thought  to  use  it  and  enlisted  the  coopera-  \ 
tion  of  Mr.  Holmes  and  others  who  were  somewhat  uneasy 
in  their  partnerships  in  Waterbury    and    in    Wolcottville. 
One  of  the  reasons  joined  to  Mr.  Holmes'  restlessness  for  the 
organization  of  Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens  was  the  belief 
that  the  Scovills  were  making  large  profits  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  daguerreotype  plates.     And  the  concern  which  be- 
came the  Plume  &  At  wood  Manufacturing  Company  was  the 
outcome  of  a  disagreement  in  an  older  company.     Thomas 
Wallace  started  his  enterprise    in    Ansonia,    and    Thomas 
James  his  in  Seymour,  because  they  both  thought  they  could 
make  more  money  in  plants  of  their  own  rather  than  as  em- 
ployees in  the  established  mills.     After  the  beginning  of 
what  came  to  be  the  Benedict  &  Bumham  Manufacturing 
Company  in  1823,  there  was  not  a  single  enterprise  in  ex- 
istence in  1900  in  Connecticut  or  outside  of  it,  except  the 
Manhattan  Company  of  New  York  City,  which  had  been 
organized  independently  of  the  mills  in  the  Naugatuck  Val- 
ley.    In  every  case  up  to  that  time  new  plants  were  either 
located  by  those  who  had  gained  experience  in  the  Nauga- 
tuck Valley,  or  were  manned  by  workmen  who  were  here 
secured,  and  in  almost  every  instance  by  both. 

But  now  when  once  organized  the  various  plants  at  times 


114  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

actively  competed  with  each  other  and  together  faced  some 
competition  from  without.  The  story  of  competition  from 
without  will  first  be  told  and  then  the  way  in  which  the  mills 
of  the  Valley  acted  together  to  meet  this  competition  and  to 
secure  their  own  interests. 

During  the  forties  there  were  two  or  three  small  concerns 
besides  those  which  have  been  mentioned  which  were  rolling 
small  quantities  of  brass  and  making  some  brasswares.  At 
this  time  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  rolling  of  copper 
was  outside  of  Connecticut.  Until  after  1885  the  handling 
of  copper  was  not  the  most  important  item  in  the  business  of 
the  Naugatuck  Valley  mills  and  while  to-day  the  proportion 
of  copper  which  is  used  pure  is  larger  than  ever  before  in  its 
relation  both  to  the  whole  business  of  the  Connecticut  mills 
and  the  total  consumption  of  the  country,  yet  these  mills  do 
not  now  exercise  the  same  measure  of  control  of  the  trade 
in  copper  sheets  and  wire  as  they  do  of  that  in  brass  and 
other  alloys. 

The  early  competition  was  in  the  hands  of  small  concerns, 
only  one  of  which  long  lived.  At  no  time  before  i860  was 
such  competition  effective  enough  to  call  for  remark.  The 
first  pretentious  effort  to  compete  with  the  Naugatuck  Val- 
ley mills  began  in  1853.  In  that  year  Mr.  John  Davol,  who 
had  taken  the  place  of  Mr.  A,  G.  Phelps  when  he  left  the 
Wolcottville  Brass  Company  in  1848  to  establish  his  own 
plants  in  Derby  and  later  in  Ansonia,  with  two  associates  in 
the  Wolcottville  Company,  went  to  Brooklyn,  New  York, 
organized  the  Brooklyn  Brass  and  Copper  Company  and 
began  the  rolling  of  brass  and  the  manufacture  of  brasswares. 
At  that  time  the  business  of  the  Wolcottville  Company  was 
being  seriously  affected  by  Mr.  Hayden's  invention  of  the 
spinning  process  for  making  brass  kettles.     Mr.  Davol  also 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION  115 

had  had  some  disagreements  with  his  Wolcottville  partners. 
With  other  wares  he  undertook  the  making  of  brass  kettles 
and  infringed  upon  Mr.  Hayden's  patent.  This  involved 
him  in  a  lawsuit,  the  result  of  which  was  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  abandon  this  line  of  manufacture.  This  incident 
inspired  in  him  such  hostility  to  the  Connecticut  men  that 
from  that  time  he  refused  to  enter  into  any  agreement  to 
maintain  prices.  However,  his  own  financial  interest  led 
him  in  the  main  to  follow  the  price  list  agreed  upon  in  the 
Naugatuck  Valley,  especially  as  the  latter  mills  generally 
refused  to  cut  under  Mr.  Davol's  prices.  But  the  Brooklyn 
Company  was  always  independent  and  at  times  was  an  active 
competitor.  From  1870  to  1890  the  plant  was  in  full  opera- 
tion and  a  considerable  product  came  upon  the  market.  At 
the  time  it  was  the  most  formidable  outside  competitor  in 
the  trade.  After  1890  however  its  business  fell  off  and  in 
1903  the  land  was  needed  for  the  anchorage  of  the  Manhat- 
tan Bridge  and  the  plant  was  sold  and  the  company  went  out 
of  business. 

In  1865  two  other  enterprises  were  started,  which  with  the 
Brooklyn  Company  were  the  only  outside  concerns  of  con- 
sequence in  the  brass  business  until  about  1880.  One  of  these 
is  especially  worthy  of  note  because  it  is  the  only  establish- 
ment in  the  trade  before  1900  which  was  organized  inde- 
pendently of  the  Connecticut  mills.  In  1865  the  Manhattan 
Brass  Company  began  doing  business  in  New  York  City. 
This  has  always  remained  out  of  organic  connection  with 
the  Naugatuck  Valley  mills.  However  self  interest  has  led 
it  in  the  main  to  follow  the  standard  price  list.  Moreover 
it  has  never  entered  the  market  to  any  large  extent  with  the 
product  of  its  rolls.  Indeed  at  times  it  has  been  a  large 
purchaser  of  sheet  brass.     The  interest  of  the  company  has 


116  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

been  in  the  manufacture  of  various  wares.  It  has  in  the 
main  rolled  metal  only  for  its  own  use. 

Again  in  1865  the  Bridgeport  Brass  Company  was  organ- 
ized. In  the  same  building  in  which  the  Brooklyn  Brass 
and  Copper  Company  had  its  rolling  mill,  there  had  been  a 
small  concern  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  brassware. 
In  1865  this  firm  with  the  active  cooperation  and  financial 
assistance  of  Mr.  Davol  and  his  son,  William  H.,  established 
a  plant  at  Bridgeport.  For  fifteen  years  some  business  was 
done,  but  at  no  time  was  the  enterprise  prosperous.  In  1880 
Mr.  Frederick  A.  Mason,  the  son  of  Mr.  Albert  A.  Mason 
who  had  been  one  of  Mr.  Davol's  associates,  with  others 
bought  out  the  Davol  interest  in  the  Bridgeport  Company. 
Mr.  Mason  had  been  since  1872  in  the  employ  of  Benedict  & 
Bumham  and  was  familiar  with  the  trade.  Under  his  man- 
agement the  Bridgeport  Company  became  quite  prosperous. 
However  frequently  it  entered  into  trade  agreements  with 
the  mills  up  the  Valley  and  was  never  a  close  competitor  for 
the  outside  trade. 

Down  to  1880  then  there  was  no  effective  outside  compe- 
tion  except  by  the  Brooklyn  Company.  Since  that  date  fur- 
ther competition  has  appeared  and  during  the  last  few  years 
this  has  become  increasingly  active. 

From  1880  to  1900  there  were  four  concerns  which 
emerged  as  worthy  of  notice.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that 
from  1869  to  1900  only  one  strictly  new  plant  was  organized 
in  the  State  of  Connecticut,  the  Seymour  Company  in  1878, 
which  has  remained  comparatively  small  and  which  while  it 
generally  did  not  enter  into  trade  agreements  with  the  other 
mills  nevertheless  in  the  main  has  maintained  the  standard 
prices.  The  four  outside  companies  are  The  Bristol  Brass 
and  Clock  Company,  located  at  Bristol,  Connecticut;  The 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION  117 

Rome  Brass  and  Copper  Company,  organized  in  1879  and 
located  at  Rome,  New  York ;  The  Detroit  Copper  and  Brass 
Rolling  Mills,  organized  in  1881,  located  at  Detroit,  Michi- 
gan; and  The  Chicago  Brass  Company,  organized  in  1886 
and  located  at  Kenosha,  Wisconsin. 

The  Bristol  Company  is  the  outgrowth  of  an  old  attempt, 
begun  about  1850  by  men  who  had  been  interested  in  the 
Wolcottville  Brass  Company,  to  manufacture  brass  clocks. 
A  large  business  in  this  line  was  developed.  In  the  earlier 
period  it  was  in  rather  close  agreement  with  the  other  mills 
in  the  vicinity.  Until  1890  it  did  not  roll  much  more  metal 
than  was  consumed  in  the  factory.  Since  that  date  and 
particularly  since  1900  it  has  enlarged  its  plant  and  now 
actively  competes  for  the  outside  trade. 

The  Rome  Company  was  established  by  local  men  who 
thought  thus  to  utilize  an  abandoned  iron  rolling  mill. 
They  were  assisted  in  this  enterprise  by  men  who  had  gained 
experience  and  a  knowledge  of  the  trade  in  the  Naugatuck 
Valley.  It  has  been  a  rolling  mill  primarily,  has  been  well 
managed  and  an  active  competitor  from  the  start.  It  now 
has  a  large  trade  in  sheet  copper  but  it  also  handles  brass  in 
sheets,  wire,  rods  and  tubes. 

The  Detroit  mill  was  also  organized  by  men  who  at  the 
time  were  in  close  touch  with  the  Connecticut  enterprises  and 
at  first  pooled  its  business  with  the  Connecticut  mills.  It 
was  at  the  start  primarily  a  rolling  mill.  Now  sheet  copper 
is  the  largest  item  in  its  output  but  like  the  Rome  Company 
it  produces  brass  in  various  forms.  After  1890  it  broke 
away  from  its  agreement  with  the  other  mills  and  entered 
into  active  and  effective  competition  with  them. 

The  Chicago  Brass  Company,  also  a  rolling  mill,  while  at 


118  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

first  a  competitor,  was  not  largely  prosperous.  In  1901  it 
was  bought  by  the  Coe  Brass  Company  and  now  is  abso- 
lutely owned  by  that  corporation. 

Besides  the  concerns  located  as  already  noted  in  Bridgeport, 
Bristol,  Rome  and  Detroit  there  are  but  two  other  companies 
which  are  to-day  actively  and  effectively  competing  with  the 
brass  mills  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley.  Both  of  these  are  of 
comparatively  recent  origin.  The  National  Brass  and  Cop- 
per Tube  Company,  located  at  Hastings,  New  York,  a  de- 
velopment from  an  older  concern  and  the  Michigan  Brass 
and  Copper  Company  in  Detroit,  Michigan,  are  entering  the 
trade  and  are  actively  competing  in  the  open  market.* 

In  1900  there  was  established  the  second  brass  mill  to  be 
located  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley  since  1869.  In  1876  the 
Waterbury  Manufacturing  Company  had  been  organized, 
succeeding  a  manufacturing  enterprise  which  had  not  been 
largely  successful  but  which  ran  back  quite  a  number  of 
years  in  a  more  or  less  active  state.  The  new  company  was 
well  managed  and  in  time  built  up  a  large  and  profitable 
trade  in  an  extensive  line  of  brass  wares.  It  was  consuming 
considerable  amounts  of  metal  which  it  cast  into  ingots  and 
had  rolled  in  other  mills.  In  July,  1900,  the  Chase  Rolling 
Mill  Company,  controlled  by  the  owners  of  the  Waterbury 
Manufacturing  Company,  began  operations  in  Waterbury 
and  has  entered  the  open  market  for  sheet  brass  and  wire. 

In  1895  there  were  eighteen  brass  mills  in  the  country,  as 

*In  addition  to  the  above  there  are  two  small  enterprises  in  New 
Jersey  and  perhaps  one  or  two  elsewhere,  but  none  of  these  is  of 
notable  proportions.  There  are,  however,  two  or  three  concerns  be- 
sides those  named  which  engage  in  the  manufacture  of  a  single  arti- 
cle such  as  wire  or  tubing. 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION 


119 


follows.*  The  first  six  were  all  in  Waterbury,  except  that 
one,  the  Plume  &  At  wood  Manufacturing  Company,  has  its 
rolling  mill  at  Thomaston,  while  its  main  office  and  factory 
is  in  Waterbury. 

Scovill  Manufacturing  Company,  employing.  ,  .1,600  hands. 
Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens,  "  . .  .1,012 

Benedict  &  Burnham  Mfg.  Co.,  "  ...    967 

Plume  &  Atwood  Mfg.  Co.,  "  ...    791 

Randolph  &  Clowes,  "  ...    550 

Waterbury  Brass  Company,  "  ...    525 

The  other  mills  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley  were : 
Ansonia    Brass   &   Copper    Co.,    employing.  ..  1,135  hands. 
Wallace  &  Sons,  Ansonia,  "  ...    646      " 

Coe  Brass  Company,  Torrington,         "  ...    650      " 

Seymour  Mfg.  Co.,  Seymour,  "  ...    220      " 

Birmingham  Brass  Co.,  Shelton,  "  ...    206      " 

Also  two  others  were  located  in  Connecticut. 
Bridgeport  Brass  Co.,  Bridgeport,  employing.  . .    750  hands. 
Bristol  Brass  &  Clock  Co.,  Bristol,     "  ...    455      " 

The  other  five  outside  of  Connecticut  were: 
Manhattan    Brass    Co.,    New  York,  organized 

1865,  employing 575  hands. 

Rome  Brass  &  Cop.  Co.,  Rome,  N.  Y.,  organized 

1879,  employing 397      " 

Detroit  Cop.  and  Brass  Mills,  Detroit,  organized 

1881,  employing 275      " 

Chicago  Brass  Co.,   Kenosha,   Wis.,  organized 

1886,  employing   144      " 

Brooklyn  Brass  and  Copper  Co.,  Brooklyn, ( facts  not  given). 

*"icx)  years  of  American  Commerce",  C.  M.  Depew,  article  by  A. 
A.  Cowles,  Vol.  I,  p.  334. 


120  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

At  this  time  most  of  the  mills  rolled  copper  as  well  as 
brass  and  drew  both  copper  and  brass  wire  and  as  well 
handled  other  alloys,  such  as  German  silver  and  specialties. 
There  were  in  addition  to  the  above  several  mills  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  which  handled  only  copper.  No  enum- 
eration of  these  is  attempted. 

The  hands  employed  as  returned  are  for  the  Connecticut 
companies  only  those  in  the  rolling  mills  proper;  the  sheet, 
wire  and  tube  mills.  Some  of  the  companies  had  many  more 
in  the  manufacturing  departments ;  for  example  the  Scovills 
employed  thus  about  i,ooo  hands  in  addition  to  those  re- 
turned above. 

Of  the  hands  returned  as  employed,  a  total  of  10,898, 
almost  exactly  half,  or  5,445,  were  in  the  city  of  Waterbury, 
and  more  than  half  of  the  remainder  were  in  the  Naugatuck 
Valley.     The  total  for  the  State  of  Connecticut  was  9,507. 

But  it  must  be  further  noticed:  one  of  the  marked  pecu- 
liarities of  the  industry  is  found  in  the  fact  that  to  a  large 
extent  the  original  rolling  mills  were  led  to  manufacture 
their  own  product.  Of  the  six  mills  in  Waterbury  every  one 
at  this  time  not  only  rolled  metal  for  the  market,  but  also 
manufactured,  some  on  a  large  scale,  its  own  wares.  This 
was  in  1895  likewise  true  of  all  but  two  of  the  other  firms  in 
Connecticut,  the  Coe  Brass  Company  and  the  Seymour  Man- 
ufacturing Company.  On  the  other  hand,  of  the  five  rolling 
mills  outside  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  only  one,  the  Man- 
hattan Brass  Company,  employing  nearly  one-half  the  force 
as  returned  outside  of  the  State,  remanufactured  its  own 
product. 

In  order  to  bring  the  list  as  given  down  to  date  it  is  neces- 
sary to  remember  that  two  of  the  mills  have  been  closed.  In 
1903  the  Coe  Brass  Company  bought  the  Birmingham  Com- 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION  121 

pany  and  closed  its  plant  and  in  the  same  year  the  Brooklyn 
Company  went  out  of  business.  Also  in  1896  the  Coe  Com- 
pany bought  the  Wallace  plant  and  in  1901  the  Chicago 
Company  and  has  since  operated  both  plants  with  its  own  in 
Torrington.  Thus  four  companies  have  ceased  separate 
corporate  existence.  The  three  new  concerns  noted  as  start- 
ing since  1895  must  then  be  added,  giving  now  a  total  of 
seventeen  mills  of  appreciable  size. 

Within  the  Naugatuck  Valley  there  have  been  times  of 
strenuous  competition.  As  the  industry  developed  the  differ- 
ent mills  endeavored  to  secure  their  position  by  agreements 
regarding  prices  and  by  pooling  their  production.  What  is 
believed  to  be  the  earliest  trade  agreement  in  the  country 
was  here  made.  The  earliest  date  which  can  now  be  given  in 
this  connection  is  February  10,  1853.  It  is  believed  that 
some  mutual  understanding  had  been  reached  before  this 
time  but  the  earliest  document  known  to  exist  bears  this 
date.  The  agreement  was  signed  by  every  brass  mill  in  the 
Valley  together  with  the  Bristol  Brass  and  Clock  Company. 
It  may  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  there  was  no  effective 
outside  competition.  This  earliest  agreement  appears  to 
have  been  concerned  only  with  prices.  Shortly  after  how- 
ever, certainly  by  1856  and  probably  before,  the  mills  had 
agreed  not  only  as  to  prices,  but  also  to  regulate  production. 
The  struggle  to  recuperate  after  the  crisis  of  1857  gave  im- 
petus and  point  to  the  movement. 

At  this  time,  1856,  the  association  was  very  closely  organ- 
ized. Prices  and  discounts  were  fixed  and  production  was 
apportioned  and  allotted.  Penalties  for  violation  were 
agreed  upon.  It  was  agreed  that  three  cents  should  be  paid 
into  the  pool  by  each  mill  for  each  pound  of  metal  handled 
above  its  apportionment  and  any  mill  could  draw  three  cents 


122  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

for  each  pound  below  its  apportionment  which  it  failed  to 
place  upon  the  market  A  store  was  maintained  in  New 
York  to  which  any  mill  could  ship  such  products  as  were 
allotted  to  it  and  which  it  was  otherwise  unable  to  market. 

At  first  Mr.  George  P.  Cowles,  at  the  time  connected  with 
the  Ansonia  Brass  and  Copper  Company,  was  the  executive 
officer  of  the  pool,  but  as  objection  was  made  to  him  because 
of  his  connection  with  one  of  the  companies  interested,  Mr. 
A.  M.  Blakesley  of  Waterbury  was  about  1865  made  Secre- 
tary of  the  American  Brass  Association,  as  it  came  to  be 
called.  Unfortunately  the  most  of  the  records  relating  to 
the  various  pools  have  been  destroyed. 

From  1853  until  just  after  1870  the  organization  of  the 
American  Brass  Association  was  tolerably  effective.  Then 
came  the  time  of  greatest  strain.  During  one  year  the  mills 
would  keep  their  agreements  tolerably  well  and  during  the 
next  competition  might  be  much  more  keen.  From  time  to 
time  efforts  were  made  to  secure  some  binding  agreement, 
sworn  returns  being  introduced.  But  it  often  appeared  that 
the  impelling  desire  of  each  mill  was  to  limit  the  operations 
of  the  others,  while  retaining  its  own  freedom.  During 
some  of  these  years,  as  has  been  noted,  some  of  the  largest 
plants  showed  losses  in  operation.  Still  the  ownership  of 
the  different  enterprises  remained  largely  in  the  same  hands. 
The  office  force  of  each  mill  was  desirous  of  retaining  their 
positions  and  threw  the  responsibility  of  cutting  prices  upon 
the  salesmen ;  the  salesmen  declared  that  the  home  office 
sanctioned  the  prices  they  quoted.  The  holders  of  the  stock, 
if  they  failed  of  a  dividend  in  one  quarter,  made  it  up  in 
another  and  hence  did  not  always  take  resolute  action. 
However  it  was  the  last  interest  which  prevented  absolute 
demoralization.     The    determining    factor    in    the   various 


^ 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION  123 

pools  was  the  maintenance  of  prices  rather  than  the  Hmita- 
tion  of  production.  From  time  to  time  certain  allotments  of 
production  were  made,  but  the  closer  the  detail  of  such 
allotment  the  greater  the  enterprise  of  the  different  man- 
agers in  changing  to  some  slight  degree  the  specifications. 
Then  they  reported  production  only  as  particularly  specified, 
while  they  manufactured  as  largely  as  possible  outside  of 
such  limit.  Hence  at  no  time  after  1870  can  the  reported 
return  of  any  mill  be  taken  as  its  total  output,  however  care- 
fully and  clearly  such  production  may  appear  to  be  stated 
in  the  official  returns.  For  the  reason  given  records  were  not 
exactly  kept  and  many  books  have  been  destroyed.  Hence 
it  is  now  impossible  to  determine  the  exact  production  of  the 
most  of  the  mills  during  this  period. 

Earnest  efforts  were  made  in  1876,  in  1884  and  in  1894 
to  agree  as  to  prices  and  production.  The  price  scale  was 
generally  more  closely  observed  than  the  apportionment  of 
production.  The  agreements  were  generally  recognized  for 
a  couple  of  years,  when  more  or  less  evasion  appeared  and 
they  really  ceased  to  be  operative  before  they  were  formally 
dissolved.  Since  the  dissolution  of  the  1894  pool  in  1899, 
nothing  further  along  this  line  has  been  accomplished. 

The  agreement  of  1884,  regulating  both  prices  and  pro- 
duction, was  signed  by  every  mill  in  the  Valley,  except  the 
Seymour  Manufacturing  Company.  The  Bridgeport  Brass 
Company  and  the  Detroit  Copper  and  Brass  Rolling  Mills 
were  also  parties  to  it.  The  only  considerable  concerns  in 
the  country  which  did  not  enter  it  were  those  in  Seymour, 
Bristol,  Brooklyn  and  Rome.  And  at  the  time  the  Brooklyn 
Company  was  the  only  one  which  was  putting  considerable 
amounts  of  sheet  brass  and  wire  upon  the  market.  This  was 
the  last  pool  of  which  Mr.  Blakesley  was  the  Secretary. 


124 


THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 


The  production  as  reported  in  pounds  gross  weight,  of 
sheets,  wire  and  tubing  was  as  follows  in  1884: 


Coe  Brass  Company, 

5,189,309 

Ansonia  Brass  and  Copper  Company, 

4,838,203 

Benedict  &  Burnham  Mfg.  Co., 

4,760,223 

Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens, 

4,740,685 

Wallace  &  Sons,       .... 

4,559,693 

Plume  &  At  wood  Mfg.  Company,     . 

4,282,472 

Scovill  Manufacturing  Company,     . 

3,207,506 

Waterbury  Brass  Company,     . 

2,871,180 

Bridgeport  Brass  Company,     . 

2,014,479 

Brown  &  Brothers, 

1,844,409 

Osborn  &  Cheeseman  Company, 

1,595.463 

Detroit  Mill, 

488,289 

40,391,911 

These  companies  produced  in  that  year  more  than  90%  of 
the  rolled  brass  of  the  country.  At  this  time  the  agree- 
ment was  tolerably  well  observed  and  probably  the  reported 
production  was  not  far  short  of  the  actual  production. 

However  the  relative  importance  of  the  different  mills  can 
not  be  absolutely  determined  by  the  table  as  given.  The 
first  mill  was  practically  exclusively  a  rolling  and  wire  mill 
and  the  next  four  were  largely  devoted  to  rolling.  Whereas 
the  Plume  &  Atwood  Company  and  particularly  the  Scovill 
Company  were  largely  engaged  in  remanufacture.  Proba- 
bly the  last  named  had  the  most  extensive  plant  and  the 
largest  number  of  employees. 

But  the  more  extensive  agreements  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made  were  by  no  means  the  only  ones 
which  were  here  developed.     During  a  considerable  portion 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION  125 

of  the  period  from  1865  to  1895  the  Waterbury  companies 
had  certain  agreements  among  themselves,  at  times  of  such 
a  character  that  they  had  a  large  influence.  These  mills 
absolutely  controlled  the  pool  of  1884.  Moreover  agree- 
ments were  made  regarding  certain  specific  items  of  produc- 
tion. For  example,  there  existed  at  the  same  time  as  the 
inclusive  pool,  a  copper  rivet  association,  a  tubing  associa- 
tion, a  lamp  burner  association  and  several  others.  In  some 
instances  a  given  plant  would  be  a  member  of  one  of  the 
minor  pools,  while  declining  to  agree  with  its  competitors  on 
certain  other  items  of  production. 

Regarding  these  pools  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  first  in 
1853  is  believed  to  be  the  earliest  example  of  such  an  agree- 
ment to  be  found  in  the  history  of  American  industry.  The 
conditions  in.  the  Naugatuck  Valley  were  particularly  favor- 
able for  the  initiation  of  this  experiment  in  industrial  coop- 
eration. The  mills  were  not  far  from  each  other.  There 
was  no  outside  competition  of  consequence.  The  raw  ma- 
terials, copper  largely  and  zinc  to  a  degree,  were  subject  to 
considerable  and  at  times  sudden  fluctuations  in  price.  This 
made  it  very  desirable  that  the  diflferent  companies  should 
agree  as  to  the  diflferential  which  should  be  observed  between 
the  market  price  of  copper  and  the  selling  price  of  the  prod- 
uct of  the  mills.  Moreover  a  given  company  might  happen 
to  have  a  large  stock  of  copper  with  a  rising  market,  which 
would  enable  it  to  cut  prices  to  an  extent  which  easily  might 
be  disastrous  to  other  concerns.  Such  conditions  were 
actually  realized  at  times  with  serious  results. 

Further,  as  has  been  noted,  in  many  instances  the  same 
men  were  interested  in  more  than  one  mill.  There  was  a 
real  community  of  interest,  even  though  this  was  at  times 
obscured  by  the  rivalry  between  the  different  companies. 


126  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

Hence  after  the  experiment  of  agreeing  on  prices  and  of 
pooling  production  had  once  been  tried  with  its  evident 
effect  in  stability  of  price  and  in  the  adaptation  of  produc- 
tion to  the  demand  of  the  market,  the  tendency  was  ever 
present  to  return  to  such  agreements  and  to  confirm  and 
extend  their  scope. 

From  time  to  time  after  1870  there  was  some  discussion  of 
the  feasibility  of  organic  union  of  two  or  more  of  the  exist- 
ing corporations.  No  definite  result  appeared.  On  June  7, 
1893,  a  special  charter  was  obtained  from  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut, authorizing  the  formation  of  a  new  company  which 
should  include  several  existing  corporations.  The  first 
holders  of  this  charter  were  the  Coe  Brass  Company  of  Tor- 
rington  and  the  Scovill  Manufacturing  Company,  Benedict 
&  Burnham  Manufacturing  Company,  Waterbury  Brass 
Company,  Holmes,  Booth  &  Haydens,  and  Plume  &  Atwood 
Manufacturing  Company ;  all  of  the  Waterbury  rolling  mills 
except  Randolph  &  Clowes.  The  Ansonia  Brass  and  Copper 
Company  was  the  only  important  one  not  in  the  list.  But  it 
was  found  to  be  impossible  to  reconcile  conflicting  interests. 

At  this  time  a  decided  difference  of  policy  had  appeared. 
Several  of  the  leading  factors  in  the  trade,  notably  Mr. 
Lyman  W.  Coe  who  had  been  since  1863  the  head  of  the  Coe 
Brass  Company,  declared  that  the  industry  had  reached  such 
a  point  of  development  that  a  differentiation  of  function 
should  appear.  He  argued  that  the  rolling  mills  should 
confine  themselves  to  the  rolling  of  sheets  and  the  making 
of  tubing  and  of  wire  and  that  the  business  of  remanufac- 
ture,  the  making  of  various  wares  of  brass  and  of  the  other 
metals  concerned,  should  be  turned  over  to  other  companies 
either  subordinate  or  independent.  This  was  the  most  im- 
portant point   of    difference.     The    Scovill    Company    and 


-"^^t^ 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION  127 

Plume  &  Atwood  were  more  largely  remanufacturers  and 
by  means  of  control  of  patents  and  the  trade  in  certain 
specialties  they  each  had  a  large  business  which  was  not 
really  competitive.  The  other  four  companies  already 
named  while  remanufacturing  to  a  degree  were  however 
more  important  as  rolling  mills  and  were  moreover  more 
close  and  direct  competitors  in  the  bulk  of  their  business. 

The  original  charter  was  extended  in  1895  and  in  1897. 
In  1896  the  Coe  Brass  Company  by  the  purchase  of  the 
Wallace  plant  in  Ansonia  became  the  leading  corporation  in 
the  trade.  On  December  14,  1899,  the  Coe  Brass  Company, 
Waterbury  Brass  Company  and  Ansonia  Brass  and  Copper 
Company  came  together  in  the  American  Brass  Company. 
On  August  6,  1900,  the  Benedict  &  Burnham  Manufacturing 
Company  came  in  and  October  17,  1901,  the  Holmes,  Booth 
&  Haydens  Company.  On  this  same  latter  date  the  Coe 
Brass  Company  purchased  the  Chicago  Brass  Company  and 
the  organization  of  the  American  Brass  Company  as  it  is 
to-day  was  complete.  The  most  important  plants  in  Con- 
necticut which  are  not  members  of  this  combination  are  the 
Plume  &  Atwood  Manufacturing  Company,  Scovill  Manu- 
facturing Company,  Randolph  &  Clowes,  the  Bridgeport 
Brass  Company,  the  Bristol  Company,  the  Seymour  Manu- 
facturing Company  and  the  Chase  Rolling  Mill. 

The  American  Brass  Company  is  to-day  the  largest  and 
most  important  brass  making  and  handling  company  in  the 
world.  It  makes  more  than  two-thirds  of  all  the  brass  used 
in  the  United  States,  besides  which  it  handles  much  copper 
and  various  alloys,  such  as  German  silver  and  many  mixtures 
the  composition  of  which  is  regarded  as  a  trade  secret.  It 
uses  approximately  one-third  of  all  the  copper  consumed  in 
the  United  States  and  is  the  largest  single  consumer  of  cop- 


128  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

per  in  the  world.  The  center  both  of  its  corporate  existence 
and  of  its  industrial  activity  is  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley. 
About  one-half  of  its  output  proceeds  from  Ansonia,  one- 
third  from  Waterbury  and  the  remainder  from  Torrington. 
The  capital  of  the  company  was  at  the  start  $10,000,000, 
which  has  since  been  increased  to  $15,000,000.  Its  policy  is 
to  maintain  harmony  of  action  between  the  constituent  com- 
panies without  dictating  closely  their  internal  management. 
With  the  exception  of  a  few  specialties  which  it  controls  by 
patent  or  otherwise  it  has  abandoned  remanufacture.  The 
tendency  is  towards  specialization  of  output,  each  plant  being 
used  more  largely  for  such  products  as  it  can  most  advan- 
tageously produce. 

The  American  Brass  Company  illustrates  the  power  and 
efficiency  of  individual  leadership  and  initiative  which  were 
so  signally  in  evidence  at  the  beginning  of  the  industry ;  for 
it  was  brought  into  existence  largely  by  the  enterprise  and 
energy  of  Mr.  Charles  F.  Brooker.  Mr.  Brooker  is  a  direct 
product  of  the  brass  industry,  having  begun  his  apprentice- 
ship with  Mr.  Lyman  W.  Coe,  who  was  the  son  of  Mr.  Israel 
Coe,  one  of  Mr.  Benedict's  early  partners.  When  Mr.  L.  W. 
Coe  in  1863  bought  the  plant  of  the  Wolcottville  Company, 
the  next  year  Mr.  Brooker  at  the  age  of  seventeen  entered  his 
employ.  Six  years  later  he  became  one  of  the  officers  of  the 
company,  succeeding  in  1893  Mr.  Coe  in  the  presidency.  In 
1896  his  company  bought  in  the  plant  of  Wallace  &  Sons 
and  five  years  later  the  Chicago  Brass  Company,  thus  be- 
coming the  largest  factor  in  the  trade  and  controlling  nearly 
one-fourth  of  the  weight  of  metal  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley, 
and  in  1899  he  accomplished  the  organization  of  the  Ameri- 
can Brass  Company. 

The  reasons  why  the  brass  industry  was  started  in  Water- 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION  129 

bury  have  been  given.  Water  was  needed  for  power  and  a 
plentiful  supply  of  wood  for  annealing.  As  the  industry  de- 
veloped large  quantities  of  water  were  needed,  now  not  so 
much  for  power  as  for  washing  the  metal.  As  a  rule  every 
time  that  brass  is  rolled  it  must  be  annealed.  After  anneal- 
ing the  scale  is  removed  by  acid  and  then  the  metal  must  be 
washed.  This  consumes  water  in  large  amounts.  Condi- 
tions in  Waterbury  were  favorable  in  these  regards.  But 
Waterbury  was  not  peculiar  in  these  respects.  The  main 
reason  apparently  why  the  brass  business  was  started  in 
Waterbury  was  that  it  was  the  residence  of  the  men  who 
allowed  their  enterprise  and  activity  to  lead  them  on  from 
the  household  manufacture  of  cast  buttons  to  the  larger  and 
more  promising  field  of  rolling  brass. 

Two  causes  besides  the  perseverance  and  activity  of  the 
pioneers  have  acted  to  the  end  that  the  seat  of  the  industry 
has  remained  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley,  where  it  is  now  es- 
tablished so  firmly  and  extensively  that  measured  by  the 
value  of  its  product  it  has  become  the  leading  industry  in  the 
State. 

The  first  is  the  advantage  of  an  early  start.  Brass  is  a 
comparatively  high  priced  material.  To  this  day  the  unit 
of  production  is  the  pound  and  not  the  ton.  Also  the  mills 
early  took  up  the  manufacture  of  the  product  of  their  own 
rolls  still  further  raising  the  market  value  of  their  product. 
This  has  made  the  industry  more  independent  of  freight 
charges  than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case.  As  suc- 
cessive difficulties  were  met,  the  need  of  machinery,  the  need 
of  skilled  workmen,  the  demand  for  capital,  the  question  of 
transportation,  the  necessity  of  enlarging  the  market  by 
manufacturing  their  own  wares ;  these  were  faced  and  over- 
come by  a  singular  exhibition  of  foresight,  energy  and  skill. 


130  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

The  advantage  secured  by  an  early  start  has  been  maintained 
by  the  activity  and  ingenuity  of  the  men  v^hose  fortunes  de- 
pended upon  the  estabUshment  and  extension  of  the  industry. 

To-day  a  large  plant  is  absolutely  essential  to  the  control 
of  the  market.  Machinery  has  come  to  play  such  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  economy  of  production  that  large  ex- 
pense is  involved  in  the  establishment  of  a  nev^^  plant. 

The  other  reason  for  the  maintenance  of  the  supremacy 
in  the  brass  manufacture  which  the  plants  of  the  Naugatuck 
Valley  have  secured  is  that  the  workmen  who  are  skilled  in 
this  particular  industry  are  in  the  main  only  here  to  be  found. 
Reference  has  already  been  had  to  the  interdependence  of 
the  various  concerns.  From  the  beginning  when  the  num- 
ber of  skilled  mechanics  imported  from  England  could  be 
easily  counted  to  the  present  a  substantial  control  of  this 
class  of  labor  has  been  maintained  to  a  singularly  effective 
degree.  It  would  probably  be  impossible  for  any  brass  plant 
employing  fifty  mechanics  to  become  established  anywhere 
in  the  United  States  unless  skilled  men  were  sought  and  ob- 
tained in  the  Naugatuck  Valley. 

As  attempts  have  been  made  from  time  to  time  to  start 
new  enterprises  elsewhere  it  has  been  found  necessary  to 
appeal  to  the  Naugatuck  Valley  for  workmen.  At  times 
wages  have  been  offered  which  were  double  the  prevailing 
rates  in  order  to  secure  competent  help.  But  so  well  have 
the  mills  treated  their  employees,  so  many  own  their  homes 
and  so  steady  has  been  employment  that  even  this  induce- 
ment has  seldom  been  sufficient  to  secure  help  of  the  highest 
grade  fgr  what  was  thought  might  be  an  enterprise  with  an 
uncertain  future. 

However,  while  concerns  which  are  located  in  the  West 
may  be  able  to  obtain  more  or  less  of  the  local  business,  espe- 


COMPETITION  AND  COMBINATION  131 

cially  as  with  the  lowering  of  the  margin  of  profit  freight 
rates  become  proportionately  a  larger  item  in  the  cost  of  the 
product,  as  yet  the  increase  of  the  business  which  has  been 
offered  has  been  so  large  that  outside  competition  has  not 
been  severely  felt  by  the  older  mills  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley. 
These  plants  to  the  present  handle  their  full  proportionate 
share  of  the  total  business.  The  most  important  refineries 
of  copper  are  in  the  East,  the  manufacture  of  brasswares  and 
of  various  productions  into  which  brass  and  other  alloys  of 
copper  enter  more  or  less  are  established  in  the  East  and  the 
localization  of  the  supply  of  labor  is  still  maintained. 

The  brass  industry  then  began  in  Waterbury  as  an  imme- 
diate development  of  household  industry.  It  was  there  es- 
tablished, that  being  the  residence  of  the  pioneers,  by  their 
foresight,  enterprise  and  energy  in  surmounting  difficulties 
as  they  arose,  being  encouraged  by  the  promise  of  sufficient 
financial  rewards.  The  mills  thus  established  in  Waterbury 
and  its  immediate  vicinity  have  maintained  their  position 
of  commanding  importance  by  the  advantage  of  an  early 
start,  control  of  the  market  and  of  the  available  supply  of 
skilled  labor.  At  present  the  combination  of  capital  and  of 
labor  at  the  command  of  the  existing  mills  is  such  that  no 
serious  danger  threatens  their  supremacy. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
I.    United  States  Government  Publications. 

Report  on  Manufactures :  Alexander  Hamilton :  Second  Con- 
gress, First  Session,  Dec.  s,  1791.  Printed  in  American  State  Papers, 
Finance,  Vol.  I,  pp.  123-144.    Washington,  1832. 

Report  of  Manufactures :  Albert  Gallatin :  Eleventh  Congress, 
Second  Session,  April  17,  1810.  Doc.  No.  325.  American  State 
Papers,  Finance,  Vol.  II,  pp.  425-439.    Washington,  1832. 

Digest  of  Manufactures :  Tench  Coxe :  Thirteenth  Congress, 
Second  Session,  June  21,  1813.  Doc.  No.  407.  American  State 
Papers,  Vol.  II,  pp.  666-812.  Washington,  1832.  Statistics  taken  in 
1810.  The  several  parts  are  also  printed  separately:  Philadelphia, 
1813. 

Digest  of  Manufactures,  as  ordered  by  Congress,  March  30,  1822: 
comprising  a  statement  of  the  manufacturing  establishments  of  the 
United  States.  American  State  Papers,  Finance,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  28-223. 
Also  printed  separately:  Washington,  1823.  (Note:  The  incom- 
pleteness of  these  returns  may  be  noted  in  the  fact  that  no  return  is 
made  of  tinware  shops  located  in  Connecticut,  although  it  is  certain 
that  such  manufacture  was  carried  on  at  the  time.) 

Letter  from  the  Secretary  of  State  transmitting  a  supplementary 
return  to  the  Digest  of  the  accounts  of  the  Manufacturing  establish- 
lishments  and  their  manufactures :  Feb.  27,  1823.  Doc.  No.  90. 
Seventeenth  Congress,  Second  Session. 

Report  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  such  articles  manufactured  in 
the  United  States  as  would  be  liable  to  duties  if  imported,  etc.,  with 
a  schedule  of  factories,  etc.  Made  to  Eighteenth  Congress,  First 
Session,  Jan.  27,  1824.  (Note:  In  this  report,  as  in  the  Digest  of 
1823,  no  tinware  shops  and  only  one  clock  shop  is  returned  for  the 
State  of  Connecticut.) 


134  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

Statement  of  the  cost  of  such  manufactures  as  are  embraced  in 
the  proposed  tariff,  etc.  Feb.  12,  1824.  Doc.  No.  72.  Eighteenth 
Congress,  First  Session. 

Documents  relative  to  the  manufactures  in  the  United  States,  col- 
lected and  transmitted  to  the  House  of  Representatives  in  com- 
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the  Treasury.  Executive  Doc.  No.  308.  Twenty-second  Congress, 
First  Session.    2  Vols.    Washington,  1833. 

Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  relative  to  duties  on  im- 
ported manufactured  articles  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1845. 
July  23,  1846.  Senate  Doc.  No.  444.  Twenty-ninth  Congress,  First 
Session. 

Compendium  of  the  Sixth  Census :  1840. 

Statistical  view  of  the  United  States :  Compendium  of  the  Sev- 
enth Census:  1850.    J.  D.  B.  DeBow,  Superintendent. 

Abstract  of  the  Statistics  of  Manufactures  According  to  the  Re- 
turns of  the  Seventh  Census.  Joseph  C.  G.  Kennedy,  Superintend- 
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Preliminary  Report  on  the  Eighth  Census :  i860.  J.  C.  G.  Ken- 
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Eighth  Census  of  the  United  States :  i860.     Manufactures. 

Ninth  Census  of  the  United  States :  1870.     Industry  and  Wealth. 

Tenth  Census  of  the  United  States :  1880.  Manufactures  and 
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Statement  of  metal  manufactures  in  the  United  States  with  ex- 
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Eleventh  Census  of  the  United  States :  1890.  Manufacturing  In- 
dustries and  Mineral  Industries.    3  Vols. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  136 

Imports  and  Exports,  etc.  Imports  into  the  United  States  for 
each  year  from  1867  to  1893  inclusive,  and  exports  for  that  and 
other  periods :  March  14,  1894.  Senate  Report  No.  259.  Fifty-third 
Congress,  Second  Session. 

Twelfth  Census  of  the  United  States:  1900.  Manufactures.  4 
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Census  Bulletins,  Published  1906,  By  the  Bureau  of  the  Census, 
S.  N.  D.  North,  Director.  Especially  No.  42,  Census  of  Manufac- 
tures, 1905,  Connecticut :  and  No.  57,  Census  of  Manufactures,  1905, 
United  States. 

Confer:  The  Federal  Census,  Critical  Essays  by  Members  of  the 
American  Economic  Association.     New  York,  March,  1899. 

See  also  criticism  of  census  schedules  relating  to  copper  and  brass 
in  the  introduction. 


II.     Technical  and  General. 

Cyclopedia  of  Useful  Arts,  Mechanical  and  Chemical :  Manufac- 
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London  Exposition  of  1851.  Charles  Tomlinson.  2  Vols.  London 
and  New  York,  1852. 

A  Dictionary  of  Arts,  Manufactures  and  Mines;  Containing  a 
Clear  Exposition  of  Their  Principles  and  Practice.  Andrew  Ure. 
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Spon's  Encyclopedia  of  the  Industrial  Arts,  Manufactures,  and 
Raw  Commercial  Products.  Edited  by  C.  G.  W.  Lock.  2  Vols. 
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The  Industrial  Arts.  Historical  Sketches,  with  Numerous  Illus' 
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British  Manufacturing  Industries.  Edited  by  G.  Phillips  Bevan. 
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136  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

The  Metallic  Alloys.  William  T.  Brannt.  London  and  Philadel- 
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Brass  Founders'  Alloys:  A  Practical  Handbook,  Containing 
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Mixed  Metals  or  Metallic  Alloys.  Arthur  H.  Hiorns,  Head  of 
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Coins,  Medals,  and  Seals :  Ancient  and  Modern :  Illustrated  and 
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In  the  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Sixth 
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A  History  of  American  Manufactures  from  1608  to  i860;  Exhibit- 
ing the  Origin  and  Growth  of  the  Principal  Mechanic  Arts  and  Man- 
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The  Great  Industries  of  the  United  States;  Being  an  Historical 
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One  Hundred  Years  of  American  Commerce.  Edited  by  C.  M. 
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History  of  the  American  Clock  Business  for  the  Past  Sixty  Years, 
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American  Clock  Making:  Its  early  history,  etc.  Henry  Terry, 
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History  of  Clock  Making  in  our  Country,  etc.  James  Terry. 
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BIBLIOGRAPHY  137 

See  also  articles  in  Scientific  American;  Vol.  41,  Dec.  13,  1879,  p. 
380;  Vol.  42,  May  i,  1880,  p.  277;  Scientific  American  Supplement, 
Vol.  62,  Jan.  19,  1907,  p.  25,950;  Vol.  64,  Nov.  2,  1907,  p.  281. 

The  Early  Transportation  and  Banking  Enterprises  of  the  States 
in  Relation  to  the  Growth  of  Corporations.  Prof.  G.  S.  Callender. 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics.    Vol.  17,  1902-03,  pp.  111-162. 

The  paucity  of  general  literature  upon  the  subject  in  hand  may 
appear  as  it  is  noted  that  in  the  "Repertorium  der  Technischen 
Joumal-Literatur",  published  in  Berlin,  in  the  years  from  1879  to 
1904,  only  thirteen  articles  appear  under  "Messing"  (brass),  and  of 
these  not  one  is  of  value  in  the  present  inquiry. 

Also  in  "Poole's  Index"  from  1802  to  1907  there  are  only  five 
entries  under  "brass",  which  have  to  do  with  any  phase  of  the  sub- 
ject, except  archeological  and  descriptive  of  historical  bronzes. 


III.    Local  History. 

Many  facts  of  interest  regarding  the  domestic  life  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  may  be 
gleaned  from  the  records  of  travels  made  about  that  time.  The  most 
important  references  which  concern  the  matter  in  hand  may  be  found 
in  the  foot-notes.  The  two  most  valuable  sources  are  the  follow- 
ing: 

Travels  Through  the  Northern  Parts  of  the  United  States  in  the 
Years  1807  and  1808.  Edward  A.  Kendall,  Esq.  3  Vols.  New 
York,  1809.     (The  first  vol.  is  entirely  devoted  to  Conn.) 

Travels  Through  New  England  and  New  York.  Timothy  Dwight. 
4  Vols.     New  Haven,  1821. 

Many  references  to  the  beginning  and  development  of  industrial 
enterprises  in  the  State  may  be  found  in  State  papers  and  local 
histories. 

There  are  on  file  in  the  State  Library  at  Hartford  many  valuable 
unpublished  papers  relating  to  industrial  undertakings  from  1716  to 
1800. 


138  THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 

The  following  sources  may  be  noted  as  of  special  value : 

A  Statistical  Account  of  the  Towns  and  Parishes  in  the  State  of 
Connecticut.  Connecticut  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  New 
Haven,  1811. 

Report  of  the  Secretary  of  State  Relative  to  Certain  Branches  of 
Industry.  May  Session,  1839.  House  of  Representatives  (Conn.) 
Doc.  No.  26,  Hartford,  1839.  (This  report  covers  but  little  more 
than  Hartford  County.) 

Statistics  of  the  Condition  and  Products  of  Certain  Branches 
of  Industry  in  Connecticut  for  the  Year  ending  Oct.  i,  1845.  Pre- 
pared from  the  returns  of  the  Assessors  by  Daniel  P.  Tyler,  Secre- 
tary of  State.  Hartford,  1846.  (This  report  contains  returns  from 
every  town  in  the  State  with  one  exception.) 

References  to  the  most  important  passages  in  State  and  local 
histories  relating  to  the  development  of  the  brass  manufacture  may 
be  found  in  the  foot-notes. 

For  a  general  reference  list  on  Conn,  local  history  see  Bulletin  No. 
S3,  Dec,  1900,  New  York  State  Library;  Compiled  by  Charles  A. 
Flagg,  Albany,  1900.  In  this  list  may  be  found  the  titles  of  prac- 
tically all  of  the  local  histories  of  the  State  which  were  in  hand  at 
the  time  it  was  compiled. 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Abel  Porter  &  Co.    .      .      .     87 
Allen,  Ethan      ...      .22 

"     John 37 

American  Brass  Ass'n    .      .122 

"  "     Co.  126-128 

Pin  Co.     .      .      60, 86 

"       Tube  Works  92 

Ansonia,  manufacture  in  63,128 

"     ,  settlement  of  .      .      57 

"       Brass  and  Copper 

Co.    57,  84,  86,  99, 

119,    124,    126,    127 

Clock  Co.  .      .      .     86 

Atwood,  Lewis  J.     ...     66 

Battery  process  defined      .     54 
Benedict,  Aaron   40,  46,  75,  80, 
83,  84,  89, 128 
"       &   Bumham  Mfg. 

Co.    40,   53,  60,  61, 
66,84,85,86,98,101, 
112,    113,    119,    124, 
126,  127 
"       &  Coe     42,  53,  66,  69, 
84,  89 
"     ,  Charles       ...     84 
Blakesley,  A.  M.      .       122, 123 
Brass,  casting  of      .      .      .       9 
"  ,        "       " ,  independ- 
ent of  rolling      44,  99 
"   ,  composition  of    .      .8,11 
"     forelocks       .      29,31,32 
"     industry  concentrated 

in  Conn.     .   5, 100, 120 


PAGE 

Brass  industry  in  Nauga- 
tuck  Valley    . 

67, 84, 114, 124 
"     industry,  competition 

in 121 

industry,  pools  in  121-127 
"       ,  importance 
of  in  Conn.  6 

in  history       ...        9 
mfr.     beginning     as 

household  industry    36 
mfrs.,  export  of        .107 
"    ,  import  of        .    106 
,  modem  process  of 
manufacture   .      .      11 
"     ,  physical  properties 

of       ....        7 

"     ,  price  of        .      51.95-97 

Birmingham  Brass  Co.    66,119 

120, 121 

"  ,  England,  brass 

mfr.  in        -39 
"  ,  settlement 

of    .      .     56,57 
Bridgeport  Brass  Co.    116,  119, 
124, 127 
Bristol  Brass  and  Clock  Co. 

116,  117,  119, 123, 127 
Britannia,  mfr.  of    .      .      .33 
Bronze,  composition  of        .        8 
"       in  history     ...        9 
Brooker,  Charles  F.  4i  128 

Brooklyn  Brass  and  Copper 

Co.    112,  114,  116,  119, 123 


140 


THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 


PAGE 

Brown  &  Bros.  64,  68,  85,  87, 

100,  103,  106,  124 

Brown  &  Elton  52,  60,  61,  62, 

64,  65,  84-87,  98,  112 


"     ,  James 
"     ,  Philo 
"     ,  William 
Bumham,  G.  W 
Button  mfr.  . 
Butts,  mfr.  of 


.   .   6s 

•  52,64 
.   .   64 

66,  76,  III 

•  36-42 

•  •   53 


Calamine   used   in   making 

brass  ....      10 
Capital  in  the  brass  industry 

49,  63,  64,  84,  85,  128 
Cartridge,  metal  case,  devel- 
opment of  102, 103 
Casting  of  brass  .  .9,44,99 
Casting  of  buttons  .  .  -36 
Census  schedules  misleading  2 
Chase  Rolling  Mill  Co.  118,127 
Chicago  Brass  Co.   117,119,127, 

128 

Clocks,  export  trade  in  .      .107 

Clock  mfr.  in  Conn.       28,  61,  73 

Coe  Brass  Co.    55,  63,  67,  103, 

118-121,     124,    126,    127 

"   ,  Israel  46,  54,  55,  70,  76,  77, 

83,  84,  90,  103,  128 
"  ,  Lyman  W.  83,103,126,128 
Coinage  in  Waterbury    104, 105 
Competition  in  the  brass  in- 
dustry      114, 121 
Concentration  of  brass  indus- 
try in  Conn. 

5,  100, 120 


PAGE 

Concentration  of  brass  in- 
dustry     in 
Naugatuck 
Valley 
67,  84, 114, 124 
"  of  mfr.  of  am- 

munition in 
Conn.   .  103, 104 
"  of  pin  mfr.  in 

Conn.    .      60, 61 
"  of  tinware  mfr. 

in  Conn. 
Copper,  consumption  of  44, 
50,    79,    98,    99, 
,  export  of      .      .      . 
in  ancient  times 
in  Conn, 
mining   . 
,  price  of  . 
,  production  of 
,  rolling  of 
,  source  of 
,  tempering  of . 
Corporations  in  the  brass  in- 
dustry 
Cotton  mfr.  in  Conn. 

Cowles,  A.  A 

"     .George  P.     .      .57 


27 

lOI 

109 


Croft,  James 


20 

22 

51.96 

•  78 

•  99 
77.78 

9 

86 
6 

3 
122 
41,68,89 


Daguerreotype  plates,  mfr. 

of      61,  65,  108, 

113 
Davol,John.      .      .        114,116 
Derby,  mfr.  in     .      .      56,57,59 
"    ,  shipping  point    .      .      79 
Detroit  &  Lake  Superior  Cop- 
per Co.  .      .      77, 78 


INDEX 


141 


PAGE 

Detroit  Copper  &  Brass  Roll- 
ing Mills  117, 119, 124 

Electrical  demand  for  cop- 
per loi, 102,  108 
Electro-plating,  beginning  of 

33.34 

Elton,  J.  P 62 

"     J.S Ill 

Emigration  from  Conn.  15 

Exports  of  brass  mfrs.   .      .    107 

"         "  copper    .      .      .109 

"         "  zinc  ....    109 


PAGE 

Household  industry,    brass 

buttons  36,  37 

"               "     in  Conn.  24 

"           mfr  of  clocks  .  28 

"             "     "  iron  24 

"             "     "  textiles  24 

"             "     "  tinware  28 
"             "     "  pewter, 

etc.  32 

Howe,  Dr.  J.  I.        ...  59 
Howe  Mfg.  Co.    .      .     59,  60,  63 

Humphreysville  Copper  Co.  63 

Hungerford,  John     ...  54 


Factory  system  .      .      .      .42 

Imports  of  brass  mfrs.  .      .    106 

Fowler  Brothers       .      .     59, 60 

"         "  copper  and  brass 

wares                   74 

German  silver,  mfr.  of    34,  55, 

"         "  copper    .      .      50, 76 

108,  127 

Interchangeable  parts  in  clock 

Grilley,  Henry    .            .     37,38 

mfr.     .      .     30 

"     ,  Silas       .      .      .     39,46 

Iron,  household  mfr.  of        .24 

Grout,  John  R 77 

"     mfr.  in  Conn.  .      .      .22 

"     mining  in  Conn.    .      .      21 

Hay  den,  David  .      .      .     39,46 

"     ,H.H.   .      .      .      .     6s 

James,  Thomas  .      .      .   63,113 

"     ,H.  W.    55,62,65,66,112 

Jerome,  Chauncey   .      .      .32 

Holmes  &  Hotchkiss   52,  54,  64, 
65,    76,   83,   84,   90,   91 
"    ,  Booth  &  Atwood     .     67 
"    ,  Booth  &  Haydens 

64,  65,  67,  83-85,  87, 
112,   113,    119,    124, 

126,  127 
"      ,  Israel     51,  52,  54,  62, 

65.  67,  70,  75,  80,  83, 

89,  90,  111-113 
Hooks  and  eyes,  mfr.  of  -53 
Hopkins,  Joseph       .      .      .37 


Kettles,  brass,  mfr.  of    36,  50, 

54.  73.  90.  108,  112, 

IIS 

Labor,  male  and  female  .  93 
"  ,  skilled  and  unskilled  93 
Lamps,  mfr.  of  .  .  65,66,73 
Lead  mines  in  Conn.  .  .  19 
Leavenworth,    Hay  den    & 

Scovill    39,  49, 
75.  89,98 


142 


THE  BRASS  INDUSTRY 


PAGE 

Machinery  imported  from 

England     40,  52,  69, 

88,  89 

Manhattan  Brass  Co.    113,  115, 

119 
Manufacture,  beginnings  of 

18,23 
"  of   britannia 

ware .  .  -33 
"  ,  clocks  in  Conn.  28 
"  ,  German  silver  34 
"  ,  iron  in  Conn  .  2  2 
"  ,  "  in  house- 
hold 24 
"          ,  tinware  in 

Conn.    .  25 

Mason,  Albert  A.  .      .116 

"     ,  Frederick  A.  .116 

Material,  source  of  raw    38,  43, 

50,  75.  76 

Michigan  Brass  &  Copper  Co.  118 

Mining  in  Conn.  .      .  .        19 

"     of  copper  in  Conn.    .      20 

"     "         "...      76-78 

"     "  lead  in  Conn.    .      .      19 

"     "  iron  in  Conn.    .      .      21 

National  Brass  and  Copper 

Tube  Co.        .      .118 
Native  force  of  labor,  train- 
ing a        ...      91-94 
Naugatuck  R.  R. ,  building  of  81 
New  Haven  Copper  Co .       .64 

Osbom  &  Cheeseman  Co.  66,124 

Patents  in  Waterbury   .  88 

Peddlers  of  tinware,  etc.     26,  28 


PAGE 

Peddlers, organization  of 2 6- 2 8, 7 5 
Pewter  buttons  .  .  .37 
Pewter,  mfrs.  of.  .  .  .33 
Phelps,  A.  G.    54,  56,  63,  76,  80, 

83.  90.  103.  "3.  "4 
Pins,  mfr.  of   53,  57-60,  73,  108, 

112 

Plume  &  Atwood  Mfg.  Co.     67, 

83,  84,   100,   113,   119, 

124,  126,  127 

Pools  in  brass  industry  95,121- 

127 
Population,  increase  of,  in 

Conn.         .      .      15 
Porter,  Abel       .      .      .      .38 
"     ,  Levi        .      .   38,  39,  46 
Price  of  product .  5 1 .  9  5 

Production  in  1884  .  .  .  124 
Profits  in  brass  industry  95 

Railroads,  construction  of  81,82 

Randolph   &   Clowes     64,    100, 

119, 126, 127 

Raw  material,  source  of  38,  43, 

50.  75.  76 
Revere  Copper  Co.  .  .  .  43 
Roads  in  colonial  times  .  1 7 
Roll  of  mills  in  1 89  5  .  .  119 
Rolling  of  copper    44,  99,  102, 

120 
Rome  Brass  and  Copper  Co. 

117,  119,  123 

Salesmen  in  the  brass  industry 

75.  76 

Scovill,  J.  M.  L.  .    39,  46,  77,  98 

"     ,J.M.L.&W.H.  41,75. 

83,  84,  98 


INDEX 


143 


PAGE 

Scovill  Manufacturing  Co.     39, 

41,  51,  61,  62,  67,  69, 

84,  85,  87,   loi,  105, 

119,   124,   126,   127 

"     ,  W.  H.     .      .   42,  46,  80 

Selling  agents      ....     40 

Seymour,  mfr.  in      ...     63 

"       Manufacturing  Co.    100, 

116, 119, 120,  123, 127 

Shelton,  brass  mfr.  in     .      .66 

Simsbury  (Granby)  copper 

mine  .  20,  76, 104 
Skilled  labor,  training  a  na- 
tive force  .  87,  91-94 
Slocum  &  Jillson  .  .  59,60 
Smith  &  Phelps  ....  56 
Soho  Copper  Co.  43.  99 

Sources  of  raw  material   38,  43, 

50.  75.  76 
Spinning,  invention  of 55,  62,  108 
Steam  power,  use  of  .  .  64 
Superior  Lake,  copper 

mines  .     76-78 

Tariff,  influence  of  .  69-74 

Terry,  Eli       ....     30,  31 

Textiles,  household  mfr.  of     24 

"       mfr.  in  Conn.  .      .       6 

Thomaston,  mfr.  in       .   67, 119 

Tinware  mfr.  in  Conn.  .      .     25 

Trade  in  colonial  times  .      .     17 

Transportation,  problem  of     79 

Tubing,  brazed,  mfr.  of      .     53 

"      ,  seamless,  mfr.  of  .     92 

Turnpikes,  early  .      .18 

"         in  Naug.  Valley      79 

Wages 94 

Wage-scale  in  brass  mills  .     93 


PAGE 

Wallace  &  Sons     63,    68,     103, 

106,    119,    121,    124, 

127, 128 

,  Thomas      .  63,91,113 

Water  power    42,    46,    62,    loi 

Water  power  in  clock  mfr.  .     30 

Waterbury  &  Detroit  Copper 

Co.    .      .      .      77,83 

"         Brass  Co.  62,  63,  64, 

65.  67,  83,  84,  85, 

87,   98,    103,    112, 

113,  119,  124,  126, 

127 

"         Button  Co.  .  86 

Clock  Co.     .      .      86 

"       ,  household    mfr. 

of  clocks  in    29,30 
"         Manufacturing 

Co.     .      .      .    118 

Watch  Co.   .      .     86 

Winthrop,  John,  Jr.        .      21,36 

Wire,  mfr.  of  32,  36,  56,  63,  108, 

112 

"     ,  price  of  .      .      .     51,  96 

Wistar,  Caspar  .      .  -36 

Wolcottville  Brass  Co.    54,  57, 

61,  62,  65,  67,  68, 

83,   84,   86,    103, 

H2,  113,  114,  128 

"  (Torrington) , 

mfr.  in  54-56,128 
Wood,  consumption  of  .  45 

Woolen  mfr.  in  Conn.     .      .       6 


Yale,  Charles 

Zinc,  export  of  . 
"     in  ancient  times 
"  ,  price  of 
"  ,  production  of . 


33 

109 

8 

96 

78 


9559 


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